Love the One You're With
by RogueAlpha
Summary: My idea of what might have happened after the incident at Granny's 3x22. As this is a very short story I can't give away anymore without making it worth reading. Updated: Okay so its not so short anymore. Emma tries to show Regina that love can come from things other than soul mates, true love and first love. Though the magic that she uses may be more than she expects.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first fanfic though I have written a lot of fiction it has never been based off of an actual show. Should be a one shot but who knows. Set just after the final scene in 3x22 after Regina storms out of Granny's. Please comment for good/bad or indifferent.**

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Regina Mills sat in her high wing back chair before a cold fireplace. Her jacket still pulled around her frame as the glass of cider sat abandoned on the side table. Chocolate brown eyes stared unseeingly at the white marble of the fireplace. Images raced through her mind of Robin running to embrace a beautiful dark haired woman as little Roland cried happily for his mother.

How much more hurt could she stand? She should have pricked her finger back in Fairytale Land and let all this notion of love go. There was no true love for her. No one to bring her back from that cursed sleep. She thought back to her box tucked in her vault underneath the mausoleum; maybe she had what she needed there to finish what she should have already done.

Zelena had shown up and given Regina a purpose again. To destroy her; she remembered those words, snorting at the memory. Sighing at the fact that she hadn't even done that; Zelena had managed to end her own life in dramatic fashion. Regina lost again. Was she really destined to always be on the losing side of everything? And then Robin and Roland happened. Blinking away the tears that had blurred her stared vision, Regina reached for her cider tumbler. The ice was gone the golden liquid watered down and hot. Swallowing the pungent liquid in one swallow Regina raised her hand to dispatch yet another glass into shards with a well-aimed throw into the fireplace, when a knock at the door stopped her. Always on the losing team; sitting the glass back on the side table Regina Mills leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes.

Emma Swann stood on the stoop of 108 Mifflin Street knocking on Regina's door. The young woman's heart was breaking from the expression on Regina's face when Marion had been revealed to Robin and his son. Most people saw Regina's outburst as anger and betrayal. Emma saw right through the anger to what it really was; loneliness and fear. To be polite Emma knocked on the door one more time, the headed former queen was not going to answer the door but Emma made every effort to let her.

Reaching down into the box she had carried with her from her room at Granny's; Emma fished out a small key ring with a single key. She had only ever used this key twice but now it was needed again. Placing the key into the dead bolt, Emma turned the key hard with a loud audible click. She was determined to allow Regina every opportunity to let her in herself. Sighing when no sound came from inside Emma slide the key into the key hole on the handle, picked up her box and let herself into Regina Mills house. Why was she always on Regina's bad side?

Regina flinched when she heard the dead bolt clang loudly in the silent foyer. Would these people never give her privacy? Rising from her chair she stepped into the hallway to see who was interrupting her brooding. Regina swept a hand through her shoulder length brown hair and sighed when the sight of Emma's blonde head stuck through the open door and entered the darkened foyer. Regina never said a word just turned and returned to her chair in front of the darkened fireplace.

Emma, her eyes adjusting to the darkness of the front hallway just made out the shadow of Regina as she headed into the den at the other end. Softly closing the front door and returning the locks to their original position with one hand; she balanced the box with her other arm and hip. Hopefully if all went well she wouldn't need to go back out the door until daylight at least. Walking to the den she followed the furniture around until she found Regina, once again in her high wing backed chair.

Emma Swann set the box, a years' worth of memories from New York and two years' from Storybrook and Boston at Regina's feet. Kneeling down Emma looked into the fireplace; concentrating hard as she focused as Regina had taught her, on the action she wished to complete. The faint pulse of magic that was normally present was absent; stolen by Hooks' cursed lips as Emma had saved his life. Zelena had one that battle, maybe even the war it seemed.

"It's gone. Here I longed to get rid of my magic and now it's gone, I actually miss it." Emma shook her head and turned to sit indian style on the floor behind the box. Regina for her part waved her fingers towards the hearth never moving her arm from the chair or her eyes from the fireplace. A small fire leapt into the grate. Emma looked up into the woman's face and then over her shoulder at the fire; sighing softly. Emma settled down for a long evening at Regina's feet and the box of memories.

Emma Swann rifled through the contents of the box for a second; searching for a map Henry had kept on his bedroom wall in New York. Finding it she looked up and held it out to Regina.

"When we finally settled in New York, Henry never really felt at home at first." Emma pulled the untouched map back into her lap and started to unfold it herself. The US map appeared before her; Henry's hand writing and different colored circles all over the face. "You gave us so many wonderful memories, adventures and dreams. At first Henry was upset that he had these memories but no souvenirs or evidence that we had actually gone to these places. He always felt as if there was something or someone missing. When we were situated with the apartment, Henry insisted that all of our new adventures be remembered. I bought him a camera and these are his memories from the last year. Even though he couldn't remember you he always told me we were incomplete, a piece was missing and he wanted to save all those memories so when we found the missing piece they would know all about our adventures as though they had been there all along." Emma looked up from the floor to see tears reflecting in brown eyes, the fire light casting shadows across the lonely face. Emma raised the map again to Regina who looked down and accepted the worn paper. Circles dotted the country as hand written notes in Henry's penmanship outlined the highlights.

Seattle; Space Needle, Orlando; Disney World, Colorado; skiing, dozens of circles and little notes. Regina's eyes fell on each one as she read another tear breaking its prison and sliding down her cheeks. A large crudely drawn red apple was over New York City. Regina laughed a smile on her lips, snorting through the tears.

"Why." Regina whispered while looking at the map.

"Why what?" Emma said watching as Regina tried to process what the young blonde has said about Henry.

"Why did you bring all this stuff to me? Is it not enough you have had him the last year? Do you have to rub it in too?" Regina fell back on the tried and true method, when in doubt; lash out. Emma flinched at the words but understood finally that this was Regina's defense; go on a raging offense and push everyone away.

"Regina, I know you don't mean that, and I also know that you do this when your upset or frightened. I didn't bring this stuff to make you feel less. I brought it to make you feel more. Our son spent the last year missing you. No he didn't remember you with his head but he sure did miss you with his heart. He made those memories so that when his mind found what his heart was missing he could share them. And it's you that he missed." Emma looked up into Regina's face when she said this; desperately trying to make a connection. "I know you think you are not loved; that your happy ending will never come but Henry loves you. Unconditionally and completely. And…." Emma stalls for a moment trying to figure out how to best say the next part. "And I for one love you too Regina. I love you for your strength and your stubbornness; for your never say quit mentality; for your compassion and your unwavering dedication to make things right." Emma looked at the box and flipped through the stacks of pictures and articles on top, down to the bottom of the box that held her memories of her first years in Storybrook. Pulling out a blue/gray scrap of silk from the bottom of the box, Emma smiled at the fabric that had once been the former mayor's shirt. Handing the scrap to Regina she saw the confusion and then the dawning of realization go across the older woman's face.

"Really Ms. Swann?" Regina smirked to the woman's shy look on the floor at her feet. Her face sobered "I have been bad for so long, what makes you think I can love anyone anyway?" Regina petted at the scrap of shirt in her hand.

"Because you have unconditional love for Henry; and so long as you have that you can learn to love in other ways; friendship, family, even romantic, they can be learned again. There is a Crosby, Stills and Nash song…"

"A who?" Regina looked at Emma Swann like she was crazy.

"Never mind who; there is a song that says if you can't be with the one you love then love the one your with. You can't bring _him_ back from the dead and as for Robin, well I probably screwed that up. But you will learn to love the one your with. I'm sure of it."

Regina Mills leaned down and picked up the box of memories, pulling out the top couple of pictures. They were of Henry grinning wildly at his first baseball game and goofing off as he sat in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington Dc. Putting those down she picked up the next picture. A selfie of Emma and Henry in front of the beat up little yellow bug, the sand of the beach in the background. Holding it a little longer Regina spoke to Emma.

"Your magic should come back. Of course true loves kiss breaks all curses."

"Well then we know it's not Killian Jones." Emma snorted, straightening her legs out to rise. Walking to an end table she flipped on the lamp; soft white light filling the darkness. "Care to give it a try Madame Mayor? Two curses broken in one week; that would be a new record." Emma walked back towards a vacant chair next to Regina.

"Ms. Swann; your pushing your luck." Both woman laughed and returned to the box of memories.


	2. Chapter 2

Say Something

A/N: Thank you for the support of my first story. I was thinking of only doing a one shot but my mind kept telling me there was more to it. I know you saw the reference of Love the One Your With by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; I have ideas that hit me according to the song I'm listening to. This next bite is because of the Tyler Ward cover of Say Something by A Great Big World. Check it out on YouTube. Also if you are interested in just regular fiction check out my story "Darkness and Light" on FictionPress under my name RogueAlpha. Thanks once again for your support. Please feel free to comment good, bad, or ugly.

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Emma Swann slouched in her chair at the Sheriff's office. Leaning back she stared at the popcorn ceiling, pulling the sleeves down on her black cotton long sleeve shirt for what had to be the tenth time. Crossing her arms over her chest she spun the chair around again. Her shift had ended an hour ago, with the last report hitting her desk two hours before that. Emma had looked through the file that Robin Locksley, her newest deputy along with David. The three of them over the last month had been chasing seemingly random incidents in circles. Mostly missing items from businesses, items missing from various residences; all seemingly random until the notes started showing up. The notes all handwritten had hinted at a person of interest in the missing items and to the reasons why. The notes would show up in random places to be brought in by the deputies whenever citizens would find them. The three of them tried very hard to keep a cover on all of it until they could come to a solid conclusion how everything was connected. This report on her desk changed everything; Emma sat up and flipped open the manila sleeve; moving through the first couple of pages until she found the note she had been absorbed with for the last two hours. Picking it up by the corner she stared at its typed letters again and knew this was the note that changed everything.

Regina Mills sate behind her desk in the Mayor's office staring at the computer screen. It was two hours past when she would normally be at home; empty maybe, but home. Henry typically picked Emma's apartment for during the school week because it was closer to school and he could sleep in longer. Henry stayed with Regina on the weekends. That felt fine to Regina; at least they were spending time together. Emma's revelation almost two months ago about Henry feeling as though something was missing in his life during their time in New York, had found the trio spending a lot of time together. Regina clicked through a couple of files on the desktop of her computer searching for the latest link to her cohorts' notes and discoveries from the past day. Grinning wickedly she saw a file dated with the current date and greedily clicked over the link. A thorough report and pictures filled the screen. Excellent, it was only a matter of time, Glass was nothing if not dedicated in any task he was given. Starting to click through the pictures present, Regina was almost giddy at what she saw; so excited that she jumped in her seat when there was a terse knock at her door and an aggravated blonde Sherriff walked in without acknowledgement.

Sherriff Swann strode into Regina's office, straight for the desk; file in hand. Clad in her customary skinny jeans, boots, black long sleeve shirt and that red leather jacket she had returned to her Sherriff attitude since retaking the position from David. Dropping the file loudly on the desk she appeared every bit the woman she was before Zelena and the second curse. Turning from Regina she put her hands on her hips and took a couple of strides to the center of the large office area, trying to put a small measure of distance between them.

"Miss Swann, if you need to discuss business please see my receptionist for an appointment on your way out. I think I am free next week sometime." Regina hastely closed all the windows on her computer and quickly powered down. Picking up a couple of loose documents from the corner of her desk she turned in her chair to rise and escort the Sherriff from her office. Almost standing, Emma turned and fixed Regina with a look that said she was not put off from this discussion.

"Are we friends, Regina?" Emma stood in the middle of the office hands on her hips; sighing loudly as Regina Mills settled back into her chair behind her desk; reasserting her mayoral mask before focusing on Emma again to answer her question.

"I would say we are friendly. Maybe not the have girls night out, get drunk and tell each other our secrets friends but we do share a son and we are cordial to each other when we are with him." Regina folded her arms on the desk; she was in no mood for philosophical bull from Emma Swann tonight.

"Gee Madame Mayor; you make us seem positively domestic." Sharp sarcasm slipped into Emma's voice as she gained a measure of anger that she would need to face Mayor Mills. "We go out to lunch or dinner at least once a week with Henry. We have re-established a healthy working relationship and we have actually started doing things together that don't directly involve our son. Or did you forget about the gallery opening for Jefferson a couple of weeks ago?" Emma squared her shoulders to the Mayor's desk.

"Well that's a different interpretation isn't it? The gallery opening was an official function we were to both attend anyway, what; you think because we showed up in the same car together that it was some kind of date?" Regina snorted. "Really dear you're going to try a lot harder than that. Now if you will excuse me." Regina rose from her chair, straightened her blouse, ran a hand through her hair and reached for her blazer.

"You know, I have tried to rationalize my feelings for you. I told myself and a lot of others that Regina Mills was one of the best women I knew. That your heart was beautiful just like you are. That I would gladly follow you anywhere, do anything you wanted me to, be your one and only if you want me too. Give you an ending you could be happy with." Emma dropped her hands from her hips taking the couple of steps back to the desk that Regina now stood behind.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Incredulity written all over Regina's face; her hand landing on the desk corner to steady herself at the depth of revelation from the Sherriff. She knew Emma loved her and it scared her. She had never been pursued at least not at her own behest and never without some form of manipulation. This thing between her and Emma was new and uncertain. Emma stopped at the front of the desk and opened the file she had dropped upon entering.

"We have been investigating some events around town lately. They seemed totally random; coincidences, anomalies. But today something came across my desk that finally pointed to an answer." Emma grabbed the typed letter she was studying earlier and read the contents out loud to the stunned Mayor. "Find my heart where you buried it beneath the death and loneliness." Emma threw the sheet across to Regina, who wordlessly with trepidation picked it up and held it as though it were a snake ready to strike. "Marion found that letter in Roland's knapsack this afternoon when he returned from school. Robin brought it to me. He had no explanation for the contents but I'm sure he will think about it and figure it out. Emma Swann wiped both hands down her face, willing the tears that collected in her eyes not to fall. She had to know; she didn't want to but she had to know now that Roland was involved; this it had to stop.

"I know Sidney is back. The other notes in that file are his writing style. Heck they are in his hand writing. His petty way of wrapping someone up in lies is evident; I've been on the end of the two of you. But that, that sheet didn't come from Sidney Glass; it came from you, Regina. Why Regina? Why are you doing this to them? I know you don't love me but if you want Robin that bad then fine, but fight fair. Win him; the right way. Not this back handedness that is far beneath the woman you have become. This is some Evil Queen bull that needs to go away for good." Emma paused to take a deep breath and waited for Regina to absorb her words.

Regina Mills was shocked into silence. She remembered typing these words, but not actually doing anything with it. Could she have printed it and placed it where Roland would end up with it without conscious thought of it. No she didn't do it but; Sidney had. He was the only one aware of these plans to drive Marion and Robin apart and to the breaking point. Then Robin would bring himself and Roland back to her where they should be. How had he gotten that letter into Roland's book bag? Regina looked up into Emma's face, still at a loss for words the woman wanted to hear. She had no answer, or at least none she was willing to part with.

"Say something, Regina. Lie to me; get angry, yell at me, prove to me I am wrong." Silence still filled the space between them. Emma's eyes fluttered shut finally allowing the tears to fall. "I am sorry I couldn't get to you. Anything I would have given you; whatever you wanted me to be; a friend, a lover, heck an enemy to fight with if you needed it. This though is over my head. I can't do it, I love you Regina, and you know that. I love you." Emma took a step back from the desk from Regina from heartache.

Regina stood still behind the desk, unable to look at Emma. They're friendship had been gaining purchase in her life, but Robin was her soul mate, destined to share her love and her life; right? Regina finally looked up at Emma words on her lips, sound in her throat, but it all died to see tears freely streaming down Emma's face. She couldn't speak, move, breath. The truth was right there in her beautiful Sheriffs' green eyes.

"Say something please; Regina."

But Regina Mills was frozen in fear. Emma walked to the door; quietly opened it and left Regina standing at her desk without as much as a look back. Regina watched the door close and looked at the note still in her hand. Mouth gaping at the words on the page they rang true again. "..buried beneath death and loneliness." That's all she ever brought on herself. Regina sank back down into her office chair, hurt; dying inside. This notion of soul mates, true love and first love was all crap. Here she had the one person who accepted her past, present and future, whom she shared a son with, whom she had fought countless battles with to save her family and their town. She had watched Emma Swann walk out of her office and quite possibly out of her life. To the emptiness of her office and her heart Regina Mills whispered.

"I'm still learning to love, Emma. Don't leave me now."


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Sorry for the delay. I have been toying with the idea of doing a pick one scenario. One in which you the reader will pick what path happens next. What do you think? Well as it is here is the next section. Enjoy.

Regina Mills clenched her overcoat closer around her neck. The icy winds that blew around the corner of the sheriff's office forced her to bow her head to them as she strode quickly into the building. The text arriving from Henry earlier that day announced that he would be at the office with Emma until Regina came to pick him up for his weekend with his adoptive mother. Regina and Emma had not spoken to each other in the wake of the incident that exploded in her office last week pertaining to Sidney Glass and the stalking of Marion and Robin just last week. Though it had only been a week since the confrontation Regina had spent hours thinking about the ramifications for all parties. Sidney Glass was summarily dismissed; this time out of state. With the glowing recommendations that Regina had bestowed upon the former genie turned mirror turned spy, Glass would be able to obtain his own job providing either spy services or perhaps the actual journalism that was his designation while here in this world.

Regina for her part had been trying very hard to make reparations for the damaged caused by Glass's spying, stalking and subsequent sabotage of Marion. She had secretly tried to have things repaired either by fixing what had been damaged, physically property wise, or replacing things. Personally she made many phone calls of apologies delivering kind words in regard to Marion's status as both Robins wife and a member of the Storybrooke community. Regina had also taken to heart what Emma Swann had said about fighting fair for Robin's heart. It was not easy for a woman who was used to just taking what she wanted. Stepping into the foyer of the Sherriff's office Regina felt stifled; Emma Swann was trying her best to impersonate Hell. The heat was almost unbearable. Regina pulled her over coat open and loosened the top button of her blouse before proceeding down the hallway to the office proper. Thinking back to the previous evening when she had stood upon Robin Locksley's decidedly icy doorstep this was a complete one eighty.

Regina had quietly knocked on Robin's door, knowing that Marion and Roland were away from the house for the time being. Regina had a plan to knock and ask Robin to accompany her to dinner the following evening when he finished his afternoon shift for the sheriff. The new restaurant Le Poisson had a reservation in her name for two and Regina desperately hoped for Robin to fill that seat. As the door opened and the wary face of her former lover looked out through the screen door, Regina knew that Robin would not be seated across from her at least not at that restaurant and not anytime soon. Instead of extending the offering to Robin only, Regina Mills committed a selfless act of generosity and offered the dinner table to Marion and Robin instead. The thought came to her that she would offer to take care of Roland for their evening out.

Marion was suspicious as could be expected when the invitation to be responsible for her five year old son came from the Evil Queen. It was later the next day that it was determined that while Regina would provide the location that Grace Hatter, Jefferson's daughter, would be the actual child care provider. And so here stood Regina Mills in the middle of the office in the heat from Hell looking for Henry and Emma so she could prepare for the date that would be happening later that evening as she wrangled two teenagers and a five year old; maybe if she asked nicely, or demanded vehemently, if Emma would be willing to help watch the chaos. Walking into the office proper Regina searched either of the desks for evidence that the dynamic mother and son when a shout from the interrogation room brought her to the duo.

"Oh party foul you totally blocked me!" Emma's voice was obnoxiously grating over top of Henry's deepening laughter. Regina made her way to the room leaning against the doorjamb as she watched the pair playing their favorite racing game on the tv screen. Henry was intense looking back and forth between the split screen as if to discover exactly where Emma was on the track. Taking his tongue between his teeth, Regina watched as he made his move. The occurring scene showed Henry cutting Emma's car off sending it ricocheting of the side wall and right in to a very large street sign. Emma gapped at Henry as he fist pumped, his car crossing the finish line first and immediately started throwing accusations at the teenager. "You totally took me out on purpose. I can't believe I got took out by a ten year old."

"He's thirteen now you know. And I see even in video games no street sign is safe from Emma Swann." Regina pushed off and moved into the room.

"It was one dam sign, one dam time."

"Henry go get your stuff we gotta get going we have plans tonight." Regina pulled her gloves off and laid them down on table as Emma moved to pick up the controllers and turn off the tv. Regina watched the Sherriff for a moment; she was uncertain how to preface the next topic as they hadn't actually had a conversation in over a week. Before the "incident" they were sharing daily conversations in some form or fashion whether about Henry, work or just general topics. They truly where starting to get know each other enough to almost call themselves friends. Regina had demolished the small victories that Emma had accomplished over the last couple of months in one fell stupid move. Opening her mouth, Regina instantly closed her lips and pursed them together. Conviction, get some guts going Mills you're a Queen.

"Sherriff, why is it necessary to run up the towns electric bill by trying to impersonate Hell? Do I need to allot money for new coats?" That was not what Regina had wanted to go with but when in doubt throw out a challenge in order to get Swann going in a direction then assess where they might land.

"There is a broken window in the office, Madam Mayor. I have called in a work order but apparently that is not a high priority. Something about having to polish the Mayor's office took precedent." Sherriff Swann never looked away from where she was placing controllers and rearranging the tv back into its corner. "I will turn the heat back down once Henry leaves. I didn't want him to be cold while we were waiting for your Majesty to arrive." The barb was callously thrown into the room, a challenging gauntlet to Regina, who fought down the urge to argue right back with this infuriating woman. Instead she threw Emma for a complete loop; she apologized.

"Emma, I'm sorry. That was out of line. I will make sure that the work crews come over and get the window fixed this evening. Thank you for looking out for Henry, it is awfully bitter outside. This winter is going to be rough for us all." Regina fiddled with her gloves retrieving them from the table and aligning them perfectly together at the seams. "I wanted to ask; to ask if you would be willing to. Oh for God's sake I need your help this evening." In a huff Regina Mills threw her gloves back on the table and stared right at Emma demanding an acceptance or refusal at that moment. Emma leaned back against the two way glass hands on her hips staring at the Mayor, trying to decide whether she should throw her out of the office or not.

"What kind of help?" Emma it seemed was not going to throw her out; yet anyway.

"I am hosting Henry, Grace and Roland this evening and I am afraid that I am not as confident about this whole endeavor as I was yesterday when I thought this would be a great idea." Regina didn't flinch as much as she wanted to as a smirk slide across Emma Swann's face.

"Why Madam Mayor, are you afraid of two teenagers and a little boy?" Emma pushed away from the glass and pulled her long sleeve t shirt sleeves down to her wrists. Walking to Regina she stood shoulder to shoulder with her. Leaning over to move within Regina's personal space she quietly said into her ear, "I never would have thought that you would do something nice for someone else. I am beginning to think I need to go and find _my_ Regina Mills." Leaning back and stepping towards the door, Emma tossed over her shoulder. "What time?" Never moving from her frozen spot Regina gritted out through clenched teeth that wanted desperately to unleash a tirade at the infuriating blonde.

"Seven, and do try to be at least somewhat on time; children's lives are at stake you know." Blowing past Emma in the door way Regina Mills called for Henry and left the Sherriff's office before she exploded and strangled Emma Swann.

Six forty five saw Emma Swann entering Regina Mills house with the exuberant bundle of Roland Locksley in arm. Grace and Henry where already set up in the family room, game boards built and ready for the party to begin. Regina was in the kitchen making snacks for the kids and adults to have later on in the evening. Depositing Roland on the floor and his jacket in the coat closet in the hallway, Emma felt at home in the house that she had frequented so much over the last couple of months. Shaking her head she headed in to start playing with the kids. Later that evening after two rousing games of Candy Land and three games of Chutes and Ladders in which Roland, with Emma's direction, had soundly beaten the teens, everyone was fed and now laying around watching the Emperor's New Groove on the tv. Emma picked up plates from the coffee table and took them into the kitchen. Regina was quietly washing pans from her efforts to fix the kids some "kid food" while still keeping it somewhat wholesome.

"Wow Regina, you really outdid yourself tonight, the food was excellent. Henry had thirds." Emma brought the plates over and dunked them into the soapy water taking the brush and prewashing the dishes for the dishwasher.

"Henry is thirteen now he will eat anything, and often." Regina placed the pan she had been drying back into the cabinet before throwing the towel on the counter and leaning against it looking at Emma.

"I'm sorry for what I said early. It was crass and uncalled for. I have no reason to attack you. Especially after all that you have done for Marion and Robin; especially after tonight." Emma didn't break eye contact from the water in the sink. Regina looked down at her slacks; she had yet to change into anything remotely comfortable since returning home. Closing her eyes she sighed out loud and walked around to the other side of the island; putting space between herself and Emma Swann. Finally looking up as Emma sheepishly turned around and leaned against the other side of the island. It was not lost on Regina and not for the first time that they were the epitome of light and dark. Emma stood there in her typical long sleeve white shirt and jeans and Regina stood in black slacks and a black turtleneck. Dark and Light; how ironic that they were exactly that in every way.

"There is nothing to forgive Miss Swann. We all say hurtful things, myself more than others. But I'm not going to break because you said unkind things to me. I'm a big girl you know." Regina let the fire back into her eyes. If there was anything she liked more than a good spell, it was fighting with Emma Swann. Especially when they had been silent to each other for days. A small smile quirked at the corner of her mouth as Emma shook her head against what the former queen said.

"God, woman I don't know if there are days I want to kiss you and days I want to kill you and right now it is typically the two feelings on the same day at the same time. Emma looked up into the Regina's beautiful brown eyes and saw amazement and hurt in them all at the same time.

"Emma, I know that your; revelation a few weeks ago has somehow made our relationship different but I don't think that I can ever say that there has been a time I wanted to kiss you. Kill you yes and often but never kiss you."

"Geezus, Regina you wound me again." Emma laughed out loud; but this time Regina knew that Emma was wounded.

"I have told you on countless occasions that I cannot love anyone anymore. Not Daniel, not Robin and certainly not you. I don't have a heart that is capable of it."

"We have been over this a hundred times. You have done amazing things Regina. You have stopped our town from collapsing in even at the chance of your life. You have taken on Peter Pan for Henry's heart; you broke the second curse and beat Zelena with white magic. And you have taught my ass more than I deserved." Emma turned away from Regina, this was an argument that they had had many times; mostly after Henry was in bed and they had downed a couple tumblers of cider each. "What do I have to do to prove it to you Regina? What do you have to prove to yourself to understand that you are worth so dam much, and you deserve so much more. I would give you my heart if you wanted it. Just so you could understand what joy feels like; what love feels like again." At that moment the doorbell rang signaling the end of the kids stay over along with the conversation that was venturing into very real territory for both women. Regina turned to away from Emma and left the kitchen for the front door.

After seeing a sleeping Roland off in the arms of Robin, Regina woke Henry and Grace up; sending Henry to his room and calling Jefferson to come pick Grace up. Returning to the kitchen after everyone had left Regina found Emma still in the same spot she had left her forty minutes ago, leaning on the island.

"Go home Miss Swann, thank you for your help with the kids tonight. It was dare I say nice to have another adult with me." Regina moved to place the last towel into the laundry room and returned ushering Emma out into the foyer and cutting the lights off in the kitchen and lower portions of the house. "I trust you can find your way to the front door. Goodnight." And with that the evening was over. Emma stood in the foyer watching Regina Mills ascend the staircase before turning and making her way to the door. Making sure that everything was locked up tight behind her Emma stood on the front door step breathing in the biting cold air. The sting reminding her of the way the words Regina said to her always stung in some small way. Standing in Regina's kitchen for those minutes when Regina played hostess and Mom, Emma thought of dozens of scenarios, this infuriating woman was crawling further into her heart and soul and Emma knew she had to prove to Regina that she could feel it. She could feel love and happiness if she only knew what to look for. Emma had a choice to make either walk away and let the Evil Queen fade into the shadows, or visit Mr. Gold to figure out a way to bring light back into her dark places.

A/N: So now the question begs to be asked does Emma decide to ask Gold for help or continue to try and prove to Regina that she can love on her own without magic. With or Without Magic?


	4. Chapter 4

Emma Swann sat on the stool at Granny's counter staring at a cup of untouched cocoa. The liquid had long since turned cold as had Emma's mind as she numb herself over and over with thoughts of Regina Mills. The Sheriff knew she had to do something. If she kept putting it off Regina would slide further into the shadows instead of coming closer to the light as she had those short months ago. Emma Swann could wait the stubborn older woman out or she could take charge and make things happen on her own time line. Emma thought that was a much better plan, if she let Regina dictate the pace they would both be dead and in the ground a century before she ever gave two inches. Standing up Emma placed a couple of bills beside the full cup, nodded at the weekend waitress and moved to the door. It was terribly early still Emma hadn't even bothered to go back to her room at the B she had walked through the bitter cold night, enjoying the sting of the air.

Emma left the diner and walked towards her parent's apartment. David would be heading to the Sheriffs office for the weekend shift and Snow would be up with Neil, or at least that is what Emma had hoped. She needed advice; about what she didn't know, but she needed advice none the less. Trudging up the stairs took more effort than Emma realized it should have needed. She was exhausted and frozen to the bone. Knocking quietly on the door as to not startle her little brother; Emma waited for one of the occupants to answer the door. It took a moment before a blurry eyed Snow White opened the door with a yawn in greeting. Emma felt the pang of guilt at having disturbed her parents' morning especially at; the clock over Snow Whites head stated five thirty in the morning. Ouch she really would have to make this one up with a promise to watch Neil in the afternoon so her mother could sleep.

"Emma; honey, what's wrong?" Big doe brown eyes looked up at Emma trying to gauge what could have the normally reserved woman up and frazzled at so early a time. Yawning again Snow stepped to the side and allowed Emma Swann into the apartment. She pulled the robe she had thrown around her petite frame tight against the cool wind that Emma brought as she slouched past. The kitchen light was the only light on, the house otherwise silent. Emma again felt the pain of guilt; maybe she should just go back to her room and sleep the day away. Tomorrow would bring answers; right? _Too late for that idea Swann you're already in your mother's kitchen. _

Snow put the kettle on for coffee sliding a plate of muffins across the table to where Emma had sat down at the table silently putting her head in her hands. She hadn't even stripped off her heavy leather jacket when she came in the door; now Snow could feel the cold radiating from her daughter in a physical and mental way. Seating herself across the table from the blonde; Snow waited for the kettle to boil and wait for Emma to finally drum up the courage to talk about why she was there so early in the morning.

"Darling, what has got you up so early in the morning? Couldn't sleep?"

"I haven't been home yet so technically it's still late for me. Really, really late."

"Where have you been all night?" Snow held quiet council waiting for the next sting of answers to come from her clearly troubled and exhausted daughter.

"I started off at Regina's, she asked me to help out with the kids apparently she was babysitting so that Marion and Robin could spend time together."

"That was awful magnanimous of her." Snow addressed the thought that Regina was being civil about the whole affair was still disconcerting but she was trying to work through her doubts.

"Then it was the docks, the office, City Hall, back to stare at Regina's house, Mr. Gold's shop; it was closed of course, Granny's and now here." Emma fiddled with the cuff of her coat before she huffed and pulled it off letting it fall haphazardly on the back of the kitchen chair.

"Well now that you have sufficiently enlarged the hole in the ozone, with that bug of yours, why don't you tell me why you went to all those places?"

"I needed air so I walked." Snow stared through Emma, trying to see something beyond the lank blonde hair, reddened green eyes and pale skin that she just realized was tinged the faintest shade of blue.

"Dear God, Emma you could have frozen to death." Flying into action Snow grabbed an afghan off the back of the couch and threw it around Emma's shoulders just as the young woman started to shiver uncontrollably. Internally Snow didn't think it was just the cold that caused such violent action in the young woman. The kettle was just in the first low whistle when Snow snatched it from the burner before it could wake up the entire household; pouring the water and coffee, sugar, creamer together before presenting it to Emma who wrapped her hands around the cup like a life line. "What on earth has got you so rattled that you would wander around town in the dead of night?" Snow redeposited herself into the chair after making her own mug of coffee.

Emma sat staring at the dark liquid for what seemed like ages her mind whirling into a million different directions. She couldn't tell her mother her plan; she would just tell her that it wasn't worth the price. All magic comes with a price and sometimes it's a very steep price. Emma didn't care the price she wanted the outcome and would pay anything for it. The woman had actually said as much last night, if Regina had actually been listening.

"Can I ask you about love?" Emma said quietly finally raising the coffee mug to her lips. The hot liquid was another welcome pain as it burned through her mouth and throat.

Snow White leaned back in her chair crossing her arms over her chest as she looked gobbed smacked across the table. This was definitely not what she anticipated this morning. "Ask me an easier question please. Like why Fairytale Land exists or why fairy dust comes from mines." Emma smirked at her witticism only nodded her head in time to the answer. "What about love honey? There are many types of love."

"Don't I know it; now." Emma pulled back and shuffled the afghan around her shoulders again. Taking another swallow of hot liquid, she winced and looked into the face of her mother. "I know that there are different types of love, but in my world; this world, there are only a couple of kinds; romantic love, familial love, unconditional love for ones parents and children. But these worlds you, David and everyone else come from have different rules. Even for love; and its aggravating. True Love, Soul Mates, Blood Magic. I want to scream whenever someone even thinks about these things. And I just want to finally understand all the differences. What is love and what is magic; how do they mix and so on." Emma shrugged her shoulders and dropped her gaze back to the table.

"Wow honey. That's a lot to take in. I guess I can start with the easiest. Well for me anyways. True Love. David and I share true love. It was a connection made between our hearts and souls the moment we met. It transcends space and time. I could always tell if he was in trouble or hurt, sick, angry. It wasn't an 'I know he is in trouble' or 'I know where he is' it was just a nagging feeling that something was wrong. When I crushed David's to enact the second curse; Regina broke my heart in two so that he could live with half and I could live with half. That was only possible because of our true love."

Emma nodded her head to the story up until the part where Snow told of using her fathers' heart to enact the second curse. Though it was declared that day months ago in the boat house that they were the ones to bring about the curse; no one had bothered to ask how. Now it became clear for the curse you had to give up the thing you love the most, in this case David, but the sharing of one heart…this gave Emma something to think about.

"I never knew that. The sharing of hearts I mean. Is it safe? What would happen if one of you died?" The questions swirled around in Emma's mind. True love can share hearts.

"I don't know. In fact no one knows. And Regina was very reluctant to even try it in the first place. It very well could have killed us both and she said as much. But she tried and it worked. She saved both David and myself, and Neil come to think of it."

"Can you have more than one true love?" Emma had finally stopped shivering and loosened her grip on the afghan; color finally returning to her cheeks.

"No only one true love. And only one soul mate. Soul mates are a bit different than true love. You share a kindred experience; a deeper understanding of the person. Not necessarily with this transcend into romantic love but it can. It comes down to feeling as though you have known a person your whole life without ever having met. It is the shared experiences in each other's lives that draw the two together. Death is a typical trigger for soul mates. If the two of you have lost a significant person in your lives it could trigger that experience." Snow stood to refill her cup with coffee. "Soul mates have very little magic between them, if any. There have only been a very few cases of soul mates that I know of."

"Robin is Regina's soul mate. Tinkerbell revealed that to a young Regina a long time ago. They didn't finally connect until the second curse and then I screwed that up. That is why she took it so hard that I brought Marion back." Emma sounded quiet and defeated. "I keep taking away her happiness. First Henry, then her town, and now Robin. Now wonder she hates me so bad."

"Emma, not a single part of this is your fault. Well not solely your fault; there are things at work beyond us. Fate has a strange way of twisting and turning, making everything seem out of sorts, when really it is exactly as it should be. Regina and Robin were not meant to be together right now. That is not your fault." Snow reached her hand across the table to hold Emma's but as their hands touched Emma jumped from her chair and looked to the clock; seven a.m. Maybe Gold would be up and around by now.

"I gotta go run some errands. Thank you for the coffee and your advice. I will come by later; after everyone is up and we can hang out then. Maybe I can watch Neil for a little while so you and David can get out." Emma pulled her red leather jacket back around her frame.

"Be careful, Emma. Love is a strange thing; and people do crazy things for love and when they are in love. Whatever you are up to just please; be safe." Snow hugged her oldest child goodbye and softly closed the door as she exited the apartment.

"Oh Emma; why did you have to fall in love with her?" Snow sorrowfully shook her head and went to check on baby Neil.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I hope you have enjoyed the first chapters of this story. What started as a small reference to how these two women could move past the arrival of Marion and a little added SQ cause lets' face it that is a much better story than having a thief be the soul mate of a Queen; or a pirate be the match for a Savior, even if they are both noble idiots.

Mr. Gold, Rumplestiltskin, stood quietly behind the counter in his shop. He had forgone the normal suit jacket and instead wore a smart vest and jeweler's sleeves. Obscurely he rubbed down an old pair of silver bracelets. Taking special care to polish the ten red diamonds, true blood diamonds, inlaid into the bezels of the silver, Gold took the time to make sure they shined with an unnatural brilliance. He had always taken an interest in the oddities of the "old world" and these certainly were old. The bracelets of Aspervale were centuries old by the time the Dark One had found them; hidden in a land realms away from the Enchanted Forest. Gold knew that today would be different; he had the feeling that these bracelets were at the start of this deal.

Emma Swann stood across the road from the Pawn Shop, hands stuffed deep into the pockets of her red leather jacket. The talk with her mother had left her with just as many questions as it did answers. Her head pounded with the lack of sleep, the cold seeping through her layers of clothing only numbing the body not the mind. Taking a deep cold breath Emma crossed the road. Quietly opening the door to the soft tinkle of the little bell, Emma Swann walked into the lair of the Dark One, though now he was called Grandpa by her son. He would always be a snake to be watched carefully and fed on time to keep him in check. Walking slowly to the counter, the young woman watched as Gold held up a magnificent looking bracelet, letting the jewels on the band sparkle in the early morning light coming in through the gauzy window coverings. A decided uptick in her heart beat greeted the sight of that bracelet; shaking her head and pulling her hands from her pockets Emma stopped right in front of Gold and his treasure.

"Well good morning Sheriff. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you up and out before noon on a Saturday?" Setting the bracelet back down beside its twin Gold turned to Emma with an oily smile and a thick Scottish accent. His feeling of the future being right here on his door step made the old man feel almost giddy; a new born colt on his first day in the field.

"I have a few questions that I thought you might be able to help answer for me. I am willing to pay for them or make a deal for them. Its things that have been on my mind for a while and since I need someone who knows magic and you are the most knowledgeable one in this town I figured I would ask you." Emma Swann shrugged her shoulders like a petulant teenager would when asking their parents to borrow money.

"Ms. Swann you don't have to pay for answers, but you may need to answer some questions yourself." Gold placed both hands on his counter and smirked at the blonde woman who stood feet slightly apart and dead on them to boot, in front of him. "Like what where you doing out in the cold all night? Did you have a row with Mummy and Daddy?"

"No we did not. Why do you think I have been out all night?"

"Then you have had a fight with our venerable Queen, then. I should have suspected as much. You two have been quite enamored with each other lately." Gold smirked and huffed rolling his eyes ever so slightly at the vision of the two women dancing around each other's feelings.

"Well now I know you're going senile old man; Regina Mills is far from anything remotely resembling being enamored with me."

"But you won't stand there and deny that you have feelings for her am I right?"

"Why should I deny it to anyone let alone you? Even if I was it still doesn't matter; Regina and I will never be more than we are now; co-parents on our best days, reluctant allies on others. Regina has made it very apparent that she cannot love anyone; she has lost her True Love and now her Soul Mate, what can one screwed up orphan with fairytale parents and hero complexes give her that those two were not able to?" Emma sharpened her eye at Gold; taking a step to bring her next to the counter on the opposite side.

"Ahhh but I'm sure that is what you are here to ask me about aren't you dearie. What a screwed up orphan with a hero complex can give to an evil queen to make her feel love again. Now that is an interesting question and I dare say it will have a really long complicated answer that you won't understand." Gold once again picked up one of the Aspervale bracelets letting his polishing cloth work its way over the silver pulling the shine out of the murky metal.

"No. I want you to answer me about something I have been thinking about, probably for months. Definitely since Henry and I came back from New York. There are such things as True Love and Soul Mates, blood magic and all that crap but we have a principle in this world that I'm wondering if you had in your world; First Love."

Emma pulled a hand through her tumble of blonde hair, fighting the tangles. I hung lank over her shoulders framing her pale face. The dark circles under her eyes a testament to the sleepless night and the hours spent wondering if maybe Regina did have a fighting chance at love again if she would only stop believing she had no hope; understand that maybe just maybe her true love was still out there. Stepping back from the counter where Gold stood, Emma walked towards the window where a unicorn mobile that had apparently once hung over her own crib in a castle far away from here. The small glass unicorns danced in the morning light offering happy memories for any baby who may look upon them now. Her parents had refused to come back for them when Neil was born stating that there was only one child that they were meant for and if she wanted them then Emma could get them whenever she wanted.

Emma would never be that fairytale princess she was meant to be, she would never be the Savior that the town and Henry wanted. She would only be the woman Regina knew she was, broken and searching for love in any way she could.

"First love? That's an interesting concept Ms. Swann. Do you believe that it makes that much difference between the first love? Most people in our world were not even accorded love let along first love and then true love. What makes you think that true love and first love are not the same thing?" Gold looked between the bracelets and the window that Emma stood in front of, the light coming in according her an almost ethereal look. _Swann may actually be on to something._ Gold thought to himself working over the blood diamonds again.

"In this world everyone has a first love. It not necessarily is the person that you spend the rest of our lives with. Most times it is the first person to break our hearts and I was interested in thinking that maybe it worked the same way in the other worlds. First loves have the ability to make you a better person or to break you into a person that you don't recognize anymore. My first love broke me, turned me into someone who would not, could not trust anyone for fear of getting hurt again. I am still that way. Could Daniel have been Regina's first love, someone who molded her into the way she was instead of her true love?"

"But Daniel was not the reason for her heart break, Ms Swann. Cora killed Daniel, leaving Regina broken and angry. There is not an answer to your question."

"Yeah but it was a secretive love affair, nothing good could have EVER come out of a relationship that had to stay hidden to even exist, it could never have lasted. How do you even determine true love? Something has to happen at that moment to tell you that it is meant to be forever cause let me tell you, I thought my first love was going to last forever and he was going to be my prince in shining armor and we would live happily ever after. But that didn't happen he dumped me in jail pregnant and alone. Then has the nerve to be your son, complicate matters a whole hell of a lot with Henry and then die, TWICE. So now tell me is there some kind of sign that happens to let a person know it was true love?" Emma shoved her hands in the back pockets of her jeans in order to keep them from shaking at the memory of Neil both as her love and now as a headstone in the cemetery.

"Signs for true love are tricky, there could be thousands of them and only the two people who are in love will know them when it happens, so Ms. Swann I can't answer your question about either true love or first love. Now is there anything else, if not I am going to go make breakfast for Belle and myself."

"I want to give Regina my heart."

"Well Ms. Swann I think you can understand how I will not be much of much help in that respect. That declaration will have to come from you not me." Removing the jewelers' sleeves and laying them on the counter in order to collect his jacket Mr. Gold cocked a smirk on his face as he knew exactly what Emma Swann wanted but he was going to make her work for it.

"Come on Gold, you know what I mean. You know that my magic is gone, locked away or whatever you want to call it. I need a way to either unlock it or use another method to do what I am thinking." Emma moved back to the counter and looked Gold right in the eyes. "I know you have something in this shop of yours that can give me magic for just a few hours to do what I have to do."

"You know that all magic comes with a price. Are you truly willing to pay what this idea of yours will cost you? Do you even know the enormity of what you are about to do?"

"I know that I would do anything to give that woman the chance to be happy. I know she is happy with Henry and I have given her as much of that as Henry is willing to, but she deserves to be happy. Evil is not born it's made and Regina Mills was made to be the person she is with little to no regard about who she may have been. I am just willing to right the wrong that was done so many years ago. So now, what can you do to give me the magic that I need to do this for her and for myself?" Emma Swann stood feet spread apart, hands on the counter; determination fury and strength radiating from her exhausted frame. Gold felt the excitement cycle through him again as the future was brought within touching distance.

"Give me your wrists Ms. Swann. These bracelets of Aspervale will allow you to utilize magic for as many blood diamonds are red. Right now all twenty of them, ten on each bracelet are fully charged. You know as well as I do that magic is controlled by emotions. You will have to be very cautious in the emotions that you allow to control you during the time that you are utilizing the bracelets or you could very well hurt more than you are going to help. These bracelets is full of powerful magic; dark magic. Be careful what you wish for Ms. Swann what you want to accomplish very well may backfire." Gold placed the bracelets around each of Emma Swann's wrists affixing the clasps and turning them around the wrists to show that all twenty diamonds were bright blood red. "Dark magic Ms. Swann is different than your own, I would hate for anything to happen to you because of it." Gold dropped his hands and looked up and down Emma with an oily smile. "Now have a good day, I'm going to make breakfast for my wife."

Emma Swann walked from Gold's shop with her hands snugged back into her jacket pockets. She stopped on the sidewalk, taking a steadying breath through her nose and cleared her mind. Pulling her hands from her pockets she looked down at the bracelets that gold had locked around her hands. They didn't feel magical. They didn't even feel real but the brightness that ran through the gems set in the band glowed with the magic contained inside. Breathing deep once again she set her mind on her destination and rubbing a hand across the bracelet flipped her wrists and disappeared in a cloud of red.

A/N: oh it is so on!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I hope you realize that things are about to get a lot more interesting…..

Henry Mills trudged down the stairs from his bedroom at Regina's. Clad in a black t shirt and batman sleep pants, the teen rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and yawned impressively upon stepping off the bottom step. Hair stood up all over his head indicating that at some point in time last night his head was under the pillow or the covers; quite possible both, at the same time. Heading for the kitchen the teen swung the door open and headed towards the refrigerator to dig out milk for his cereal. Regina sat at the table nursing a cup of coffee that was more cold than empty; staring at the Storybrooke Daily Mirror about 3 lost dogs, a restoration at the convent and the latest community softball game. Looking up as the door swung inward to admit a disheveled Henry into the kitchen proper; Regina fought back a smile, feigning interest in the paper once again.

"I see the dead rises." Smirking as she heard the grunt from her adopted offspring as he pulled the refrigerator door open to find his breakfast. "Honestly Henry it is almost nine in the morning. I figured you wanted to go do something today like we did a couple of weeks ago." A hard clank brought Regina attention towards the cabinet that housed the bowls, Henry with a box under one arm, stuck a bowl upside down under his other arm and picked up the milk cartoon in both hands. "At least wake up long enough to make it to the kitchen table before you break my bowl." Folding the paper back down into its original configuration Regina laid the paper down as Henry flopped down in the chair on her right, poured milk in the empty bowl, then realizing it had no cereal in it proceeded to add the Lucky Charms afterwards. Regina rose from the table taking her coffee mug to the sink to rinse and put in the dishwasher. Retrieving a bottle of water from the fridge, she turned her attention back to Henry as he finally woke up enough to answer her first question.

"I didn't think you would want to do anything like what we did a couple of weekends ago." Henry stuffed another spoonful of cereal in his mouth so he wouldn't have to answer what he knew was coming next.

"What's that supposed to mean." Regina looked aggrieved at the boy who just continued to munch spoonful after spoonful of cereal. Leaning against the counter next to the sink Regina folded her arms over her chest and warily at the teen but decided to let it go for now. Regina had a very funny feeling that his answer would somehow involve his other mother. A couple of weekends ago Henry, Emma and Regina had found themselves at one of the Natural History museums in Boston; the little family had spent the day laughing over the exhibits and Regina's facial expressions at some of the more imaginative dinosaurs.

"Last night was fun at least right? You and Grace had fun with Roland. All of you fell out during the movie."

"Yeah last night was great. Grace and I enjoyed playing with Roland. Mom was a lot of fun especially when she would whisper loudly to Roland what to do so he could win. You seemed to have fun too; Mom." Henry picked up his bowl and walked over to the sink where Regina stood and rinsed it out placing it in the dishwasher to his right. "You seemed to enjoy having Mom around again, too." Henry walked towards the kitchen door heading for the living room to watch Saturday morning cartoons. Even as a teen there was no priority higher than watching hours' worth of mind numbing cartoons. Regina followed behind enjoying having Henry around the house in the mornings.

"Yes it was, dare I say it nice to have Ms. Swann around to help with you three." Regina sat down in one of the plush side chairs, picking up her book from the night before, content to just sit while Henry watched T.V. Henry for his part rolled his eyes at his Mother's comment about having Emma around.

"Mom, you haven't called mom 'Ms. Swann' in ages. Are you two fighting again? Is that why she won't come around unless I'm here?" Henry was well aware of the relationship his two mothers had. They were antagonistic friends at best but great co-parents; working together to make sure Henry was taken care. He was happy with the arrangement but knew his blonde mother felt a whole lot more for his dark haired mother than just pushing her buttons.

"Really Henry, Emma Swann and I are not fighting. We had a disagreement on how to handle an…incident and she is acting like the kid she can be and holding a grudge. Now are you going to watch Jimmy Neutron or that Dragon Ball whatever show?" Regina rolled her eyes at her son and flipped the unread page of the book. Even though her eyes were on the book her mind was miles away, thinking back to the fun that they had all had last night compared to the coldness that had been present just days before. Henry settled into his Dragon Ball Z, sprawled out on the couch with his socked feet on the coffee table. He stared at the T.V. screen through the first half of the show and then turned to his Mom during the commercial break snapping her out of her day dreams.

"Now I know something is up. My feet have been on the coffee table for almost a whole show and you haven't yelled at me yet to keep my feet off the furniture." Henry hit the mute button on the remote. "Okay out with it." Regina Mills had the nerve to look abashed at her teenage son who turned to her in his batman pajamas and tousled hair and demanded to know what was wrong with her. Stuttering in her attempt to back pedal from the situation Regina did the most ungraceful mouth open snort of her life.

"Henry…I'm….you're not…..we are not having this discussion. Your my son; not my therapist. I do not need your advice or helpful ear to deal with my issues, either with myself or Ms. Swann." Regina slammed the book shut, then down onto the side table. Rising from the chair, Regina straightened her slacks and pulled the sleeves of her blouse down and turned to storm from the room. Henry stopped her with a sigh.

"You know I just want you to be happy. It doesn't matter how or with who; I love you and want to see you happy. You have been beaten up for being a villain for so long but you're not; you're a hero now. When you're with me and Mom you seem so happy and when we are not around you seem so sad. Why can't you let us make you happy Mom? Why can't we all be a family?"

"Oh Henry," Regina turned and walked right back across the room to where Henry sat on the couch. Sitting down beside him she placed a warm hand on his cheek and looked deeply into his brown eyes; eyes that shown with love for her as hers shown for the love of him. "You make me so very happy, my prince. There is nothing on this earth or in any realms that can make me happier than when I am with you."

"You were happy with Robin, you are happy when your with Emma. What do we have to do Mom, how can we make you stay happy all the time?"

"Darling, this is not something you need to worry about. My personal life is not something a thirteen year old young man should ever be worried about. I am happy; I will continue to be happy. I love you more than anything can't you understand that? You bring me happiness; you are the light in my heart." Regina blinked back a stray tear that threatened to fall. Her son was growing up into a very compassionate young man with a heart of pure gold. How did someone like her, Regina Mills; Evil Queen, powerful sorceress and over all bad person end up with a kid like him. It must be in his genes. Sighing Regina laid her hand on Henry's shoulder and squeezed gently. "Now why don't you go up and get a shower and you and I will go do something fun today. It's a pretty day, not to cold, we can do something outside." Henry leaned over, kissing his adoptive mother on the cheek and proceeded up the stairs. Regina sat on the couch, shutting her eyes to the kiss happily accepting it from the teen. Remaining where she sat after Henry departed; Regina felt a strong hard pull at her stomach. The pain was enough for her to grab at her side a quiet 'oh' escaping her lips. In a moment it was gone but Regina knew that feeling was linked to her protection spell that encapsulated her family mausoleum. The spell only signaled if magic was used in the vicinity of the crypt and the not so secret vault beneath it. Taking deep breathes to ease away the sharp pain in her side Regina rose to go and change her shoes, acquire a jacket and get ready for her outing with Henry.

Making it to the bottom of the stairs another sharp pain rocketed through Regina's ribcage almost making her stumble, almost crashing to the floor. Catching herself on the balustrades of the staircase Regina sucked in deep breaths; a tightness in her chest bringing her to an angry panic. Someone had entered her vault; someone with powerful magic. Lord knows who it could actually be but a list of suspects popped into Regina's head. She would have to go and investigate, maybe call Emma in to make sure that everything was safe and secure. Walking up the steps Regina knocked on the bathroom door across from Henry's room; she could hear the water running so she cracked the door just enough to let the steam out and her voice in.

"Henry, I have to run a quick errand. Finish getting dressed, when I get back we will go out to the stables. We have not been there in a while it will be nice to stretch." Regina waited a moment to catch his response of OK before heading back down the stairs to the front door. Opening the door, stepping out Regina pulled her phone out punching in Emma Swanns' quick dial number and waiting for the blonde woman to pick up.

"You've reached Sheriff Swann; if this is an actual emergency please hang up and dial 9-1-1. If not please _beep._"

"Honestly Sheriff, if you happen to actually get this message would you please meet me at the cemetery. My protection spell has alerted to an intruder and heaven knows what trouble you have come up with this time." Sliding her finger across the end button Regina huffed at the blonde woman's incompetence to even answer a phone correctly. Pulling the door open on her Benz, Regina Mills headed towards the cemetery to investigate the alert and see what was going on in lovely Storybrooke today.

A/N: I hope you guys are enjoying this story. I have had a few follows, but only a few reviews so I am unsure if you actually like the story or not. What do you think Regina will find at the crypt; is Emma prepared to make the payment for the magic she is holding now?


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Thank you for the great interest in this story. It was a nice surprise to see the amount of people who took up with this story after the last chapter. I will have to warn of a language increase. The scene that we are about to enter will be intense and language will be used. Thank you and enjoy.

Emma Swann arrived in a swirl of red, stumbling as she appeared in the early morning light. Leaning over the woman grabbed the jeans at her knees gasping for air. The disconcerting feeling she was getting in the displacement was short lived as she closed her eyes, breathed deeply regaining her composure, standing tall to see where she had appeared. Striding hesitantly forward Emma laid her hands upon the cold stone of her destination.

Kneeling down Emma Swann placed both her hands on the name engraved in the dark marble. Neil Cassidy; the infuriating man who had walked into her life as a teenager turned her world inside out, upside down and through the ringer. Had the nerve to leave her alone and pregnant; Henry tracked her down and through him infuriatingly enough Neil had ended up back in her life when it was found out that he was actually Gold's son. And then the bastard had the nerve to die, then he had the absolute gall to be alive and come to Neverland; then die again to bring back is even bigger bastard of a father. Now Emma Swann sat at the base of his headstone, speaking to the dead.

"Hi. This is awful awkward for me considering you're not actually here and I have had zero sleep. This last year has been hard; almost too hard. Henry has grown so much. You would be proud of him, he is more certainly more mature than either one of us were at his age. And Regina; that infuriating woman who raised our perfect son, she has managed to get inside me. It happened so subtly I didn't know it had happened, but when Marion stood up in that dinner and Robin grabbed her, little Roland running to her and Regina falling apart I knew right then I had to do whatever I had to too fix this. I have to make it right for Regina. I love her dear; god do I love her maybe not sleep with her love her but I would take a bullet love her. Don't ask me when and how that happened, that woman is so infuriating that I could kill her myself most days, but I have made a decision to do whatever I have to. This is insane and I hear you screaming in my head that she's the evil queen and that is her fate for doing all the things she did to all those people but if your father, who is the biggest ass of them all has gotten and maybe even deserves his happy ending with Belle the least I can do for Regina is give her a way to feel love, feel happiness again. I can do this for our son and his mother. I will do this." Emma rose to her feet, using the headstone to pull herself up onto weary legs. If this worked she would be able to go home and rest soon.

Walking to the back of the cemetery towards Regina's family crypt, Emma rehashed her plan in her mind. She needed to get in and get out of the vault before alerting anyone. She needed one box from the wall and then she would be able to make the switch. But at this moment Emma needed to sit down; rest for a moment. The transportation of herself to the cemetery had taxed her more than she wanted to admit. It was the first time she had actually used that spell, though she was proud of herself, she would have been more proud if it was her magic that had brought her here. Sitting on a bench yards away from her destination, Emma let the early morning sunshine wash over her face as it crested the tops of the trees. Closing her eyes she rested for a moment, her head lolling to one side as sleep overtook her body.

Waking with a jerk Emma Swann tried not to groan at the giant crick that had insinuated itself deep into her neck. Reaching for her jacket pocket to the cell phone that lay inside, Emma drew it out and hit the power button. Just after nine in the morning;_ shit_, she had been asleep for about an hour and a half. Well that was time she couldn't take back, she had to get a move on. Standing she stretched her tired tight muscles as she walked to the mausoleum door; reaching for the handle Emma found the door locked solid. Breathing deep, closing her eyes she envisioned the door opening flipping her wrist at the lock the door quietly swung open. Emma walked into the crypt closing the door back behind her. The area inside now inhabited by two coffins was more cramped than it had previously been when she was here last. Looking over the coffin that bore Cora Mills name a chill ran through her body a sudden pang in her wrists as she looked down at the bracelets. Of course dark magic Rumple had said; it must be linked to Cora in some form or fashion. Walking around both coffins Emma tried to figure out how the vault underneath could be accessed now that the space was occupied by two. Emma placed her hands on Henry Mills the elders coffin and pushed as the original access of the vault. It gave ever so slightly, Emma pushed hard bumping the older mans' coffin into Cora's, opening the vault further. Descending the steps Emma's boots clicked loudly in the silence creating an eerie feeling that crept up her spine settled at the base of her skull; the beginnings of a headache inevitable.

Reaching the bottom of the steps Emma felt her pocket start to vibrate. The blonde pulled her cell phone out of her red leather jacket pocket and stared at the name; Regina. Well this may throw a monkey wrench into her plans. Regina must have set a protection spell around the crypt, or maybe she just had impeccable timing. Either way Emma placed the phone back into her pocket continuing along on her path to the immense wall of hearts. The jingle of the voicemail cut through the quiet but Emma did not pull her phone out again. Destination reached Emma Swann stood before the wall of hearts feeling slightly sick by the beat of the wall as it echoed through the small alcove it was situated in. Her mind was racing telling her that she needed to just walk away forget this idiotic notion, figure out a less magical way of fixing this. But Emma was here, standing in Regina's vault before the wall of hearts ready to lay hers bear for the Evil Queen.

Stepping forward Emma reached down and rolled the bracelets around her wrists, looking at the 18 red diamonds that glowed softly in the hall light. A small wave of an open palm brought forth three boxes; each in a different part of the wall; reaching for the first box near the floor Emma hovered her hand over the box but nothing happened, finally the blonde pushed the box back into the wall until a faint click accepted and held the box. The second box in the center of the wall accepted the same fate as the first. Emma reached high into the right corner of the wall and touching the box that was protruding from there was almost elated to feel it accept her hand and come loose from the wall. Emma pulled the box down, placing it on the pedestal, opening the lid the soft red velvet cushioning devoid of anything marring its surface. Emma walked around the pedestal putting her back to the stairwell, should someone especially Regina show up before she completed this at least they wouldn't see the box.

Placing her hand on her chest Emma Swann; Savior of small towns, child of true love, and overall badass tried with all her might to push inside and remove her heart. The skin did not give, no magic flowed through her hands into her chest to produce a beating heart. In fact the only thing that happened was a sinking feeling inside her chest. This was stupid of course she couldn't do it. Cora hadn't been able to do it when her hand had forced its way actually into her chest the heart would not budge. That was done in malice. Emma thought maybe if she focused on the curiosity of seeing what her pure heart looked like the magic would allow her own hand to pass through. Breathing deep Emma focused on her curiosity. She felt her hand pass warmly through her left breast, intertwining with her ethereal heart. The pain was not excruciating but it was unpleasant. Slowly she pulled her hand back from her chest, a pure gold heart pulsing in her hand.

The fascination was astounding. The heart beat slowly pulsing in a golden light as she held it in front of her face. Emma noted she really felt no different, maybe a small coldness inside, like a cold wind cutting through a thin jacket. Her heart in her hand though felt warm and soft, small cracks inhabited the surface though. Not a solid pure heart but one that had been broken and put back together. Hearing the door scrap open above her; Emma quickly took the heart and tucked it inside the box softly closing the lid. Regina descended the steps into the vault and caught sight of the red jacket and let out a soft sigh. Emma had actually shown up.

"Ms. Swann, so nice of you to get my message and show up before everything was over." Regina scoffed at the Sheriff. Emma turned towards the dark haired woman in such a way that her body hid the box.

"Yeah I got your message, I was close by so I headed over here. The door was open, so was the vault so I came down to look around." Emma didn't move towards Regina or to any other part of the vault. "Only you would really know if something was missing so I was waiting for you."

"Yes well, only someone with powerful magic could have just waltzed past my protection spell. I will look around down this wing and in my room would you at least look down the other wing and see if anything looks disturbed." Without acknowledging Emma's nod of acceptance Regina turned and walked back towards her private room. Nothing down the hallway looked disturbed; everything in its place. Turning back around Regina Mills almost ran over a blonde Sheriff who at some point in time had managed to walk up directly behind her.

"Dear God, Sheriff are you trying to scare me to death, knock me down, or molest me?" Regina pushed passed Emma walking back to the main hallway. Emma was acting decidedly different from the woman who left her house a scant twelve hours before. "Did you find anything odd down in the other wing?" Emma nodded in the negative but did not answer the question directly. Regina turned back to the hallway towards the wall of hearts, stopping short. A lone box sat on the pedestal that had zero reason to be there. Walking to the pedestal Regina reached for the lid flipping it open; gasping at the heart that lay inside.

"What is this? Did you not realize that this was here when it shouldn't actually be here?" Regina turned to Emma looking for a verbal answer to her questions.

"I just assumed that it was left there by the last person who was down here. I didn't know so I left it."

"Well that's an absurd notion since no one has been down here since after my Mother died." Regina spun around to look into Emma Swanns face. It was you. You broke into the vault. This….this is your heart; the heart of a child of true love." Regina walked backwards looking slightly aghast at what was happening.

"Now slow down Regina I can explain." Emma put both of her hands up in a placating motion taking a step towards Regina as she took a step back away from the pedestal and Emma. "I told you I wanted to try something. I told you I wanted to give you my heart. I figured you would have a reaction kinda like this and wouldn't make the switch yourself so…." Regina cut her off.

"Have you absolutely _lost your damn mind_? Emma Swann you are more _stupid_ than even I could have imagined! You can't _possible_ think that you could just give me your heart and I would say 'okay here let's trade'! You stupid idiot what have you done!" With that Emma's patience ran out and with a wave of her upturned hands Regina Mills froze mid tirade.

"Now look, I knew you would say these things, I'm an idiot; I'm stupid; I've lost my mind. That's why I went through the trouble to do this. Henry told me I was the Savior and that I was to bring everyone's happy endings back. I'm trying to do just that. So I was going to try and make it more an experiment than a trade but now that you are all in tirade mode, I'm just going to make the switch myself. Yes I pulled my own heart out. I want to trade it with you so no one will go heartless you'll keep my heart warm for a couple of weeks, I'll keep your heart warm for a couple of weeks and then we will switch back; easy peasy. Now will you help me or will you continue yelling at me?" Emma waved her hand again, releasing Regina from her magical bond. Regina took up mid yell again.

"How dare you!" Regina raised her hand fireball forming mid-sentence but Emma waved a hand again returning the woman to her frozen state.

"Didn't think so. I'm sorry Regina. I just want you to know what happiness is, what love feels like and with this switch you can feel all that and more. You will finally understand what I feel for you and what returning someone else's love can feel like" Emma stepped forward to Regina, taking a deep breath and holding the brunette's woman's gaze; slowly pushed her hand into Regina's chest; lightly taking the beating heart into her hand. Removing her hand Emma looked down at the mostly darkened heart and held it gently in her hands. "See there is so much red and lightness inside your heart. You have to embrace those. Hopefully when you get it back you will understand how to make those parts within you brighter." Walking carefully to the pedestal Emma switched Regina's heart for her heart inside the box. Walking back to where Regina stood frozen in silence. Emma once again raised her hand and placed the heart against Regina's chest. A small amount of pressure into the hand reinserted Emma's hand into Regina's chest along with the pure gold heart. Releasing the warm object Emma removed her hand from Regina again and stood looking deeply into dark brown eyes. She could see a warmth and light enter the normally empty brown eyes. A smile graced her lips as she watched tears start to gather in the corner of Regina's eyes. Turning Emma walked back to the box, picking up Regina's darkened heart she placed it against her chest and pushed her hand in, releasing Regina's heart into her own chest.

An anguished pain shot through Emma Swanns chest as the darkened heart of Regina Mills settled into place. Reaching for the pedestal to steady herself the box was knocked from the top landing on the shattering impressively; Emma tried to pull breath into her chest, taking in gasping breaths in order to squash the hammering in her chest, the nausea in her stomach rolling. Trying to stand another pain oh pure hate shot through from her head to her toes, felling her in one fell swoop. Hitting her knees Emma clawed at the shirt over her breast, flinging the jacket off. Still fighting to pull breath into her body.

Regina, still frozen from Emma's previous spell could do nothing to help, could not break the magic holding her. In fact could not feel the familiar swirl of magic below the surface of her skin. What she did feel was a blinding fear that she had not felt in years. Tears freely flowed down Regina's face as she watched the naïve young blonde flounder on the floor in agony. Hundreds of things raced through the former Queen's mind, most of all how were they going to fix this mess that Emma had once again gotten them into.

Emma Swann lay still on the cool stone floor, begging for the pain in her chest to slow, but nothing abated. Fighting again to push herself from the floor, Emma wretched onto the floor; black viscous mucus oozing from her lips over her hands and to the floor. An agonizing wail escaped Emma Swann's lips as she disappeared in a swatch of red smoke.

Regina Mills stumbled free from the spell that held her bound, taking only a step before her eyes rolled into the back of her head, collapsing in a heap on the floor of the vault. The remnants of a broken box at the tips of her outstretched hands.

A/N: Aww shit!


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting. Thank you for all the new favorites and comments. Welcome to the madness. I hope you enjoy the ride.**

Henry Mills knew things were going wrong when he heard the sirens. He knew things were going wrong when he couldn't get either of his mothers on the phone; he knew things were going to hell when he could see the smoke and flames towering in the sky from the direction of the stables. Henry set off to his Grandparents house, hoping that Snow and David could help him find his mom's but as he stepped out the front door of 108 Mifflin Street he was confronted with a column of black smoke coming from the outskirts of town near where the stables would be. He had hung around waiting for his adoptive mother to return from her errand. Four shows of Dragon Ball Z later he started calling both Regina and Emma. Two more shows later, he put his shoes and jacket on. That's when the sirens started in town. Henry could faintly hear them racing through the streets heading for whatever disaster they found. Stepping out the front door and seeing the smoke billowing tall and dark from the edge of town sent Henry running for his grandparents.

Henry furiously banged on the apartment door hoping that one, preferably both were home. Snow answered the door a wide awake Neil bouncing in the background crying behind her. Henry looked up at her with almost panic in his face.

"What's wrong Henry?"

"I can't find Mom, either of them. I have been calling for an hour and no one is picking up. Then when I decided to come see you and Grandpa, the sirens started and I saw the smoke. What's going on? Have you heard from either of them?"

"No Henry, David just left on an emergency there is a fire out at the stables. I tried Emma as well but it went straight to voicemail. Do you know where Regina went out on her errand?" Snow let the worried young man into the apartment, walking over to pick Neil up, trying to quiet the frightened young one. Henry peeled his black wool coat off; this one brand new as surely he had outgrown the last one he had. Henry Mills was growing like a rocket and soon would be taller than Regina. Snow beckoned Henry into the small living room area, onto the couch so that she could give Neil his bottle and talk with Henry at the same time. Settling Neil in to eat Snow turned to Henry; a young man with a worried face and missing mothers, trying her best to convey a calm demeanor to help him feel okay.

"Henry did Regina hint at where she might be going? If she was meeting someone?"

"No. Mom told me to go shower, get dressed and we would go out and do family things today just me and her. Then when I was in the shower she knocked on the door and told me she would be back in a couple of minutes she had an errand to run. I waited a couple of hours before I started getting worried and calling then when I heard sirens I came to your house. I hope that she's okay it is not like her to be gone like this and now I can't get Emma to pick up the phone either. Do you think they are together? Maybe they went to the stables when they saw the fire."

"I will call David and see if they are there with him. Being the Sheriff, Emma would have gotten the emergency call too. Maybe they met up on the way to the stables." Snow stood with Neil balanced in her arms bottle still firmly stuck in the small child's mouth. Heading to her purse where her cell phone was tucked in. Henry fidgeted on the couch trying to wait patiently for an answer from his Grandpa. Snow dialed the number, waiting anxiously for David to answer. Secretly wanting to make sure he himself was okay as well as Regina and Emma. After the third ring, David picked up.

_"Are you and Neil okay?"_

"Yes we are fine David. By chance are Regina and Emma there with you? Henry came in just a few minutes ago and said that he can't get either one of them to answer their phones. He said Regina left three hours ago to run an errand. She hasn't come back yet and he was worried." Snow tucked the cell phone under her ear next to her shoulder to switch Neil to the other arm, continuing to walk a circle around the kitchen island.

_"I haven't seen either of them here but that isn't to say that they might be; it's total chaos here. The stables are roaring because of all the hay in the loft. There isn't going to be a way for us to put this out without some help from Emma and Regina. I will try their cells myself; see if I can't find them. I will call you and Henry as soon as I know something. I gotta go." _ David hung up the phone without a reply from Snow.

"Henry, David said he hasn't seen them yet but he is certain they are there. The stables are going to be a total loss and they will need Emma and Regina's help to fix things back up. I'm sure after this Regina will be home and you two can continue with your weekend. Until then feel free to stay here. Neil is getting ready to go down for a nap so you can have the run of the place." Snow smiled to the young man trying to convey a sense of calm; inside though Snow was anything but calm. For the two most important women in Henry's life to be missing at the same time, when there was another crisis in town did not bode well for anyone.

Several hours later; a very exhausted and decidedly dirty David drug heavily through the apartment door. It was well past dark; but the smoke could still be seen on the horizon from the stables until the sun was too low for the light to carry. David walked into the kitchen area kissed Snow and little Neil on the forehead and shook his head in the negative. Snow didn't even have to ask what it was for. No one had seen either of Henry's mothers.

"Let me take a shower; then I will take the cruiser, drive around for a while. Their cars have to be parked somewhere." David quietly made his way into the bathroom; blasting the water on hot to work out the kinks from trying to save the stables from complete ruin. In the living room Henry looked expectantly at Snow, eyes full of hope that she was going to tell him that his Moms' were okay and that he could go home to his home on Mifflin Street and find his adoptive mother. Those hopes were dashed when Snow turned; frowning slightly, shaking her head in the negative to his silent question.

"David is going to go out and look for the vehicles. They have to be somewhere around here Henry don't worry." Snow was drying the last dish from supper. Neil was ready to be put down for the evening even though it was just a couple of minutes after seven. "Why don't you go with David; I'm sure he would enjoy the company." Snow made the suggestion because she knew the young man was going crazy not knowing where Regina and Emma were. Frankly she was worried as well; but in order to save both of them from pacing the floor she would send David and Henry to look.

"Yeah cool. I already know where Emma's car is; she left it at my mom's house last night. So we only have to look for the Benz." Henry lit up at the chance to be of some help for his mothers. He quickly put on his shoes; pulling his thick pea coat over his sweat shirt, ready to run out the door as soon as David was out of the shower and dressed. The two were buckled in and cruising the streets of Storybrooke by seven thirty.

"Hey Grandpa, why don't we start at my Mom's vault? I have been thinking about it and that is the only place my mom could have gone that no one would hear from her or find her for a while. Maybe something happened and both of them are there." Henry was so hopeful when David took the left to head out to the cemetery. Watching out the window of the cruiser he scanned every street for any sign of either a blonde with a red jacket or a brunette with a black one.

"That's a great place to start as any, Henry. Good thinking." David was weary but wanted to give the young man praise he deserved as the thought of the vault had not even crossed his mind. The fire at the stables had been intense, everything was a total lose but they had managed to save the animals. Hopefully with a little time and help from the residents the barn would be rebuilt. The strenuous work of stopping the fire from spreading to nearby properties was the killing factor in the fire teams' efforts. David and Robin hand spearheaded the initiative as Emma was nowhere to be found even with an emergency contact.

Pulling up to the cemetery, Regina's black Mercedes Benz sat against the curb outside the gate. Henry bolted from the car before David could even engage the parking brake. Charging to the mausoleum, Henry heard David yelling for him to wait but he was too anxious to find his mothers to heed his grandfather's warning. Reaching the door to the crypt he brushed past it into the coffin room, smile wide across his face at the light that brightened the darkness from the open stairway leading down to Regina's vault. Skipping down the steps two at a time, Henry reached the bottom, calling for his mothers.

"Moms? Ma, Mom?" Henry searched left then right heading towards the wall of hearts; turning the corner Henry yelled loudly and ran forward. "Grandpa, come quick! Mom's hurt." Henry raced over, slipping on a slick wet patch of black goo, half falling to his knees beside where his adoptive mother lay on the cold stone floor. Cautiously Henry Mills reached out to Regina's face checking to make sure she was breathing. Faint wisps of air moved from Regina's nose and mouth. Thankfully Henry closed his eyes, opening them again as he gently shook his mothers' shoulder to rouse her. David quick stepped down the stairs, making his way around to where Regina lay with Henry kneeling beside her.

"Regina, are you okay." David rolled the fallen woman over onto her back, checking for any external injuries. A groan of protest rose from the downed woman, a good sign that at least she was aware of the movement. Tentatively checking the head, neck and shoulder area David found no blood and no bruising that would indicate trauma or a fall. Until the older woman woke up there was nothing he could do. Reaching for his walkie, David brought it to his lips to call for an ambulance when Regina lurched upright scaring the life out of both of the young men kneeling around her.

"Emma." The rasp of an unused broken voice broke the silence of the vault. Clutching at her chest Regina rolled on her side towards Henry, burying her face in his chest. The young man tried his best to cradle his mother as a terrifying sob wracked through her. Twisting her hands into Henry's coat the former Queen complete lost it. Tears streamed down her face as she cried almost violently into Henry's chest. The distraught teenager looked to his Grandfather in a silent plea.

David was just as uncertain about the situation as Henry was, but he slide closer to the downed woman and the young man, silently rubbing comforting circles on Regina's back; willing her hysteria to calm down for all of them. Long minutes later Regina began to slow in her tears and sobs, pulling back from Henry's coat she looked into his face all but crumpling in again.

"I'm so sorry Henry, so sorry. I couldn't stop her, I couldn't do anything. Please, I'm so sorry Henry. I tried, I tried so very hard but I couldn't. I just couldn't." Regina's broken hiccups led Henry to stare open mouthed at his Grandfather, who in astonishment stared right back at him. Whatever had happened, it had clearly devastated the woman on the floor.

"Regina, what happened? Was Emma here with you?" David spoke quietly trying his hardest not to startle the woman into another fit of hysteria. Regina rolled her head back to look over her shoulder at David. Her red eyes and tear stained cheeks unnerved him. She had never looked so vulnerable, so young.

"I….she was…now she's gone. She left me here by myself. What are you two doing here? Henry are you okay? My little prince; I'm sorry I couldn't stop her." Regina's eyes were tearing up again at the mention at her failure to stop Emma.

"It's okay Mom. We will find her I know we will but right now we need to get you up and back to Grandma and Grandpas. There you can tell us what happened and we will all figure out what we need to do. I'm just so glad that you are okay. I was so worried about you." Henry took Regina's hands in his and pulled her to a sitting position. David hopped up, helping to pull the woman to her feet.

Regina Mills normally the embodiment of grace and composure looked literally like a run over cat. Her slacks were wrinkled, jacket askew, hair all out of place. With a medium of decorum, she pushed at her coat and flattened her pants with the palms of her hands; trying desperately to clear the fuzziness out of her head that came with the sudden fit of crying. Henry took her hand in his, pulling her towards the stairs the trio walked slowly back the way they had all come stepping over the black liquid streaming across the floor, Regina gasped at the foul looking puddle. Pausing to look at the liquid, all three of them jumped when they heard a high pitched set of beeps coming from nearby. David followed the noise a few feet from where Regina and Henry stood; reaching down beside a box of books, picking up a cell phone that had slid there after it fell from Emma's pocket.

"Well this is the reason no one can reach her, but this is good because it means she was here." David pocketed the device, returning to Regina and Henry. The trio left the vault cautiously walking across the grass towards the vehicles on the road. Regina was silent, staring hard at the dark ground in front of her. Henry for his part led both of them towards the road, never once letting go of his mother's hand. David trailed along behind, decidedly worried and still unease about Regina's terror from the vault. No one said a word as all three crawled into the cruiser, David in front Henry and Regina cuddled in the back. The ride back to the Charmings' apartment was uneventful as they turned onto the main road in Storybrooke matters changed in seconds. Henry Mills knew things were going wrong because his mother had a death grip on his hands. Henry also knew things were going wrong when he looked out of the window in the cruiser and saw Emma Swann, red jacket and all, standing in front of the clock tower. Storybrooke knew things were going to hell when at eight fifteen in the evening, the clock tower above the library exploded.

**A/N: Reviews and Comments; both positive and negative are greatly appreciated.**


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: Sorry for the delay in posting. Real life happens and unfortunately sometimes wins out over the world I wish I lived in.

Pieces of wood and glass rained down across Main Street as the fire ball from the explosion rocketed up into a pitch black night. Not even the stars dare to shine for fear of being snuffed out. David pulled the cruiser to a halt sideways in the road as a large bell fell just in front of the car, leveling a Buick, taking a substantial chunk out of the asphalt road. The death clang of the bell reverberated across the buildings. Glass fell in deadly rainbows across the street lights, store fronts demolished by the blast. Henry and Regina cowered in the back floorboard, shrapnel flying. David tried to duck below the steering wheel, but the glass from the windshield hit him in the face, cutting into his cheeks, sending blood flying. All three were dazed when the scene outside the cruiser finally calmed for a moment.

People arrived from everywhere. Most were at Granny's when the blast happened. Emergency sirens blared for the second time that day as the fire trucks reassembled after being freshly put away from the stable fire. David's cell phone blared from the front floor board with an annoying ring as concerned citizens started calling the emergency lines. Regina was the first to gather her wits about her; firstly checking on Henry, then leaning up over the front seat to check on David. A groan met her half way into the front, David shaking his head to rid himself of any glass that may be lodged in his hair. Both front doors of the cruiser were flung open together, Granny on one side of the car, Ruby on the other both inquiring if any of the passengers needed the help of EMT's.

"No, I don't think so. I'm fine the cuts aren't deep they just sting like hell. Regina is Henry okay?" David looked up towards Ruby, then over to Regina. Regina shook her head affirmative that they were both fine, though she looked far from okay.

"Yes, I am fine. Henry?" Regina reached down to the young man who still huddled in the floor board. "Henry, what is wrong?"

"I saw her." Henry looked up to his adoptive mother, eyes wet with tears. "I saw Emma. She was standing at the front of the library, and then…and then the clock tower blew up." Fresh tears welled from the normally happy brown eyes.

"Oh honey, I'm sure if she was there she is okay. You know Emma, she can get into and out of most trouble that finds her." Regina tried to reassure the young man, placing her hand on his elbow to help pull him up and onto the seat. "Let's get out of this car and out of the emergency crew's way. We will go to Snow's apartment and wait for everything to calm down again." Regina grabbed the young man's hand pulling him into the chaotic street. Henry looked around at all the running people, the lights from the fire trucks. Pulling away from Regina, Henry took off towards the library front.

"I know I saw her!" He yelled over his shoulder to Regina who was trying to gain her senses and follow after the distraught young man. "I saw her right here! She had her arms up in front of her like she was trying to stop something." Henry picked up various pieces of wood, side stepped around plates of glass, shattered but not completely broken.

"Henry stop you're going to get hurt!" Regina picked her way around the piles that Henry was trying to dig his way through to find his birth mother. "Emma couldn't have been here; if she was she would have been hurt and taken to the hospital. So far no one has been hurt, thank God. Please come back here. I promise we will find her but we have to get out of the way of the emergency crews. Henry!" Regina huffed at the boy who paid her no head as he continued to plow towards the library. Reaching the doors Henry started to pound on the worn wood, yelling through the broken panes of glass. Regina tried to get his attention but a loud groan sounded through the chaotic din causing everyone to look up towards the decimated clock tower. A large slab of metal, the stairs that led to the top of the tower groaned as they gave way from their riveted studs, falling quickly towards the front of the building; towards Henry Mills.

"Henry!" Regina screamed but could make no forward progress. Henry looked up in shock, unable to will his feet to move as the twisted groaning metal beast fell towards him. A blur from the street rammed into the young man hard from behind, pressing his small frame hard into the wooden doors. Closing around his body as the ground shook, metal screaming as it met the pavement. Another silent moment and the whole metal beast shuddered, landing in a loud death keel in the road. Robin Hood pulled Henry back away from the door, looking down at the boy's ghastly white face inquiring if he was okay.

"I'm fine…I'm okay. Thank you." Henry suffering from severe shock, disorientation stood dumbly looking at the staircase twisted in the road.

"Henry! Oh my God, are you alright? You could have been killed. I told you to stay with me! Why didn't you listen to me! Henry!" Regina grabbed the young man by his jacket lapels shaking him as he stood staring at the metal; tears freely once again flowing down her face.

"Regina; Regina, please he is in shock. Calm down, he will be fine he just needs to get away from this, to somewhere safe." Robin placed a warm hand over Regina Mills freezing fingers, white from the grip she held on Henry's coat. She looked up into Robin's face, nodding mutely at the man she once called lover, looking back to Henry who still stood silent and staring. Pulling him into a hug she took his shoulders, steering him out of the street, towards Snow and David's apartment building.

The apartment was silent for the time being. Neil was asleep in his crib, Henry passed out on the couch; Regina and Snow sat in quiet companionship at the table. Cups of coffee held between each set of hands. Neither had really spoken since the former Mayor and Henry showed up on her doorstep hours before. It was now well after midnight, David had yet to return from the latest disaster on Main Street. He had called earlier to say there were no casualties, only small number of non-life threatening injuries, and no sign of one Emma Swann.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The quiet voice of Snow White broke the silence.

"No, but we must. I don't know what is going on. I am under so much conflict about what has happened, what I feel. What Emma did, I cannot explain; either how she did it or what it is going to do to the both of us." Regina ringed her hands around the rim of the coffee mug.

"Why don't you start at the beginning, maybe it will help to start from there, find out how today happened. Maybe even why today happened, then we can decide what to do then, how we are going to find Emma." Snow kept her voice light, understanding that the woman across from her had suffered a severe trauma and needed to be handled preciously. Regina sat quietly, contemplating where to start. This was not a scenario she had ever envisioned would happen, sitting in Snow Whites kitchen, talking about a woman who happened to be her daughter, literally stealing the heart from her body and giving her a pure heart in return. Looking up and around the apartment slowly, Regina's eyes rested on the sofa where Henry laid curled up on the other side, wrapped in a warm afghan; quiet in all the commotion that had happened in the last twelve hours. Rising Regina walked to the sink, rinsing out her coffee cup and placed it in the dish drainer on the counter; leaning against the counter drumming her fingers against the cabinet below.

"The night Emma and Hook returned with Marion in tow, I left Granny's and went back home. I was hurt and lonely all over again. I couldn't stand to see all those people happy, little Roland smiling so openly at another woman; Robin hugging and holding her, like I wanted to be hugged and held. As I sat there in the dark, drinking; Emma knocked on my door. She let herself in and sat at my feet in my drawing room, showing me all the things that she and Henry had done while in New York. At first it hurt, she had all these memories with him that I would never have, but she sat there and showed them all to me. Telling me about how Henry was missing someone in his life and that he wanted to capture these memories for that person. By the end of that night I almost felt as though I was with them again during that time. It was wonderful, but still left me with a lonely hurt feeling that I would never actually have that." Regina returned to the table, sitting down in the chair crossing her arms across the table. Her eyes studied the grain of the table top. Snow did not want to stop the woman now that she had actually opened the door a fraction, so she sat still letting the older woman tell her story.

"Then, I made an error. I let my hurt and hate take over the need for revenge drove me to do something that I should never have done. I released Sidney, the genie, instructed him to go attack Marion, deface her name in Storybrooke. He did a marvelous job; there were accusations, suspicions, deceptions. But Emma; she saw through all of that. She showed up in my office one evening, confronted me with evidence. I denied it of course; well I didn't neither confirm nor deny that it was my doing. After that she withdrew from Henry and I, no more of the things I had subtly came to look forward. Play dates, dinners, movie night. We had become a family in the course of my fighting to bring down Robin and Marion's happiness. Mine was happening in front of my face." Regina moved to wipe away tears that had gathered at the corner of her eyes. "Ugh, dealing with all these emotions being right at the edge of my… this is too messy for my sensibilities."

"I understand this is all overwhelming. I am not quite sure what happened to cause you to become this way; I know it is disconcerting but we will find a way to deal with this." Snow reached across the table placing her hand on top of Regina's giving a small squeeze.

"This morning, I felt a pull inside me. I have a protection spell set on my vault. After Zelena, I didn't want anyone near there without my knowing. I went to see what might have caused the alarm; I found Emma in the vault already. I had called her to tell her that I thought something was wrong but I never thought it would be her. She had magic. How she had magic I don't know. I remember seeing a set of bracelets that I have never seen her wear before. She froze me; it was powerful magic, there was no way I could break the spell. She took my heart from my chest, as though she had done such a thing many times over. Taking out her heart she placed it in my breast, and then took my heart into her own. I know Emma was not prepared for the darkness that my heart holds. If you could have seen her heart as she held it in front of me. It is so pure, Snow; it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." Regina intertwined their fingers reaching for the younger woman's other hand.

"The emotions, the love I feel right now. I have never felt anything like it. It is almost a drug it is so powerful. But if I get my hands on Emma Swann, if she comes away from this stunt alive, I just very well may kill her for doing something so _stupid_!" Regina squeezed Snow Whites hands again.

"You may have to get in line Regina, as her mother I get first dibs at punishment." Snow smiled at the woman across the table. "At least we now know that Emma has magic and could very well be the reason for all of these incidents. First the stables and then the clock tower; we have to find her."

"I agree we have to find her and help her if at all possible. I don't know what to do to fix this problem though. I have no magic. It appears that mine was locked away when she took my heart. I will have to go talk to that imp in the morning, see if he knows anything." Regina withdrew her hands from Snows grasp. "If it is okay with you I am ready to retire."

"Sure, hopefully David will be home soon. You may take Emma's bed. I don't think she will be coming home tonight at the least. And Regina if you need to talk, about anything."

"Yes I know, I know. It is going to take me some time to understand and deal with all of these emotions and feelings. Everything resides just below the surface, ready to burst through." Regina gave a small smile, ascending the stairs into Emma Swann's bedroom. Breathing deep Regina could smell the slight musk of the younger woman; a mix of leather and flowery shampoo. Removing her heels the former Mayor crawled weakly on top of the worn blanket, tucking into the pillow breathing in the flowers of Emma Swann.

Hours or minutes could have passed before Regina Mills jerked upright clawing at her throat for breath that would not either enter or leave her body. Blindly reaching out to something anything to help steady herself as the dizzying darkness clouded her vision, Regina turned towards the door of Emma's loft bedroom. Red captured her vision and as she sank back on the bed grabbing for her throat, pleading with eyes for air to return. She shuddered as the invisible hand that held her throat lessened, drawing in ragged breath after breath. A hushed whisper slid down beside her on the bed.

"Now my love, now that I know you won't scream, we need to talk." Emma Swann's reddened eyes glowed in the low light from the window at the head of her bed. Regina shuddered against the bed as a sallow hand, taunt with sickly skin and blue veins in stark relief moved to tuck a misplaced lock of hair behind an ear. "I have missed you my beautiful love. Have you missed me?" A small cold laugh escaped blackened lips watching as Regina fainted from shock and lack of oxygen.

A/N: Please be kind and review. Am I doing an okay job with the characters?


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Wow thank you everyone for the follows and reviews. This story has become more than I ever thought it would become. The characters keep growing and moving me in directions that I'm hoping they would have gone had these events actually happened. As is such I just hope you are enjoying the adventure, hopefully it's not too slow paced or to fast. Enjoy the next chapter. And as always remember, I am new at this.

The cold black rock rung with laughter; a sweet sing song voice sounds from the depths of the dark cavern. The darkness of the air matched the darkness of the voice that said nonsensical words to no ones' ears. The occasional skitter of something sliding across the rock along with faint whimpers filled the cavern. No one had been down here in years: yes no one would think to look here for the little lost Sherriff. It was brilliant, calculating, cold; and just what was needed.

"You will see if you come with me…..grow a garden of poesy's…..let a gardener steal your flower. No, I won't let that bitch steal my son from me…love is weakness my dear….spin the straw into gold to save your life; become his wife." Emma Swann lay against the cold floor, red jacket flung aside, long sleeve shirt ripped along the sleeves and torso exposing pale white flesh sunk into bones. The dark blue jeans stained black and torn at the knees; boots covered in ash. "This is my town, I brought them here….who's happiness….on your knees you whelp!" A bone sails past a column of rock before disappearing down a deep chasm in the center of the cavernous room. Emma turned and grabbed another piece of debris from the top of a ghastly pile of ash. Catching sight of the bracelets around her wrists, the reddened flesh raw from her desperate clawing to remove them, Emma tore at the cold biting metal once again. One bracelet laid lank, stones dim and black; the other bracelet still held 9 bright red diamonds glittering eerily in the nonexistent light. Unable to remove the metal, blood flowing freely again, Emma angrily threw the blackened piece of scale into the pit.

"Death is certainly a pretty color…and well dead is dead." Emma groaned in pain; the wrenching in her stomach accentuated by the pain in her chest. A whimper rose from her throat as she curled into herself, bile rising up her throat to ooze between clenched teeth, blackened by the hate that was inside her. Retching onto the floor Emma Swann rolled away from the puddle of bile and pressed her fevered forehead to the floor; falling silent as stillness came over her. At the top of the elevator shaft, Mr. Gold stood still listening to the voice of the crazed woman in the pit below him. The red shirt of his black suit ensemble was a stark contrast to all the darkness around him. Deep in the middle of the night he stood listening for any sign that Emma Swann might be ready for what he needed. The whimpering and retching reached his ears; a sneering smirk arose and he vanished from the door way.

Appearing behind a column close to where the young Sheriff lay; Rumpelstiltskin watched as the young blonde void her stomach on the unforgiving stones. Once the woman was done, rolling away from the puddle, Rumple walked over to where she lay squatting down beside his cane to inspect the fluid foaming between her lips. Emma squeezed her reddened eyes tightly as though wishing the world would stop spinning.

"Not quite ready dearie. I think we will have to wait at least one more day for this to be what I need." Rumple stood up, stepping over the limp form walking back towards the elevator shaft.

"Help me." A small voice whispered, sounding vast and deafening in the silence around them. Rumpelstiltskin turned back towards the small little voice stepping back over the woman to squat down in front of her. Sallow skin and dull green eyes looked back at him pleadingly.

"I'm sorry dearie, but I asked you if you were ready to pay the price for what you wanted to do. If I remember correctly you said you would do whatever it took to give your queen your heart. Now this is the price you must pay. But don't worry dearie, I'm sure it will kill you sooner rather than later. All I need from you is a little more purity to the hate." Sneering down at Emma, Rumple stood up; toeing Emma with his wing tip shoes, causing the blonde to curl up again, whimpering. "Concentrate on things that will help you end this sooner; such as your lovely Maid Marion." A small cackle emitted from the man as he walked away. Emma opened her eyes the redness and delusions back in full force. Reaching for another piece of scale, Emma fiddled with the black object twisting it in the darkness causing small flashes of light.

"I was happy until she showed up…I shall destroy her happiness…."Emma Swann flung the scale over into the chasm laughing as it bounced all the way down. "If it's the last thing I do."

Regina Mills awoke in a jerk; the sun was well up into the window of the second story bedroom. Looking around at Emma Swann's bedroom in the light of day did not diminish the disorientation she felt. The dream returned to her from the night before; or had it actually been a dream at all. It was very possible that the young woman could have returned to this very room and accosted the former Evil Queen. Reaching a hand to her throat Regina rose out of the bed and to a small bureau with a mirror affixed to the top. Checking the mirror to make sure that there was no physical evidence of the ethereal encounter the night before, Regina sighed in relief. Trying to straighten her clothes as best as possible after falling asleep in them, the thought of just whisking herself away home to refresh was enticing, but then the remembrance of no longer possessing magic caused the darker woman to tear up again. This was too overwhelming. Every feeling was bright and raw, after years of suppressing feelings, denying any credence to anything other than anger and hate; all of these feelings are too much.

Walking down the stairs into the first floor of the loft, Regina was met with laughter around the kitchen table and the sound of cutlery against plates. Turning the corner to the table Regina smiled at the sight. Henry sat animatedly waving his fork and knife in retelling the events of last night to Snow who was feeding little Neil his breakfast. Charming stood against the counter looking decidedly exhausted nursing a large cup of coffee. Seeing Regina enter the room, Henry jumped up grabbing his mother around the waist in a huge hug.

"Morning Mom! I think that is the latest you have EVER slept in my life!" Henry grabbed her hand pulling her to the chair beside him as Charming brought over a cup of coffee, plate and utensils. The food was already piled on the table. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, biscuits, jam and jelly. Regina took a small selection of each and quietly tucked into her food. Snow finished with Neil turning him over to Charming to burp so that she could eat her breakfast as well.

"Were you able to sleep at all Regina." Snow inquired as she filled her plate with biscuits with jam.

"I had the most terrifying dream. Emma came to me, she chocked me into silence and I passed out. She didn't say anything really; though she called me her love. She looked horrible. That in itself was terrifying enough but to hurt me; that was intense. I couldn't do anything." Regina stared at the plate in front of her suddenly not hungry at all. Henry was the one to break the silence.

"It's okay to be scared. It was just a dream though. It's like you always told me it's a way of facing your fears without anything bad actually happening. I can understand that you would be scared of Emma; I mean she did make the clock tower explode."

"Henry, we aren't sure she was even there. It could have been anything you saw and we never found her or anything that says she was there. We just need to think that maybe she didn't do this." Regina finished up with her plate, pushing it away. "I am going to go home and get cleaned up. As much as this has been wonderful, I need some space to deal with this. Thank you Snow for breakfast and both of you for your help with Henry. Henry would you like to come home or are you okay here?"

"I'm good. I will come home this afternoon. You said you needed some space."

"Okay honey. Have fun; don't get on your Grandparents nerves." Regina stepped over and embraced Henry tightly. Letting go of the young man she then stepped over to Charming and Neil; taking the young prince from the King; she kissed the young boy on his forehead handing him back. "Thank you David for everything yesterday. Snow if you need me just call you have the number right?" She swept Snow up into a hug as well leaving the young pixie headed woman speechless. Snow nodded the affirmative and walked Regina to the door of the loft letting the former queen out into the morning.

Walking slowly back towards the mansion; a shorter walk than going all the way back to the cemetery for her car, Regina thought over all the things that had happened within the last thirty six hours. Emma's switch, the stables and now the clock tower were all powerful magic that the young blonde should not have possessed. An image kept flashing back from her dream the night before, the bracelets that were around Emma's ghostly wrists. They were something she had seen somewhere. The blood red of the stones was eerily familiar; so was the cloud of magic that Emma disappeared in the day before. Both familiar and foreign at the same time. She would look through some books she kept in her office at home once she felt clean and decent for the day. Walking quietly lost in thought, Regina did not notice the dark pair of eyes that watched her from the alley by Granny's diner. Nor did she see the flash of red that entered the same diner; she did however hear the blood curling scream that followed.

A/N: Please Review; let me know that I'm doing a good job. Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Thank you for all your reviews. Also I'm glad that you understand that Rumple always has an ulterior motive for doing anything. His need for Emma and the darkness she now harbors is a big part to the next phase of the story. Of course you will have to keep going with the story to find out what that is. **

Regina Mills spun on her heel, running back to Granny's diner. Throwing open the door she stopped fully just inside the door, staring at the scene before her. Ruby was crouched teeth bared against the counter cradling little Roland in her arms protectively. Spread eagle on the floor at the end of the bar was Leroy, a nasty gash staining his beanie red from where his head apparently took on the counter. Granny's body was slumped against the back wall close to the bathrooms. Robin was holding Marion tightly to his chest as he yelled at the figure in red leather standing over the both of them. Sneering down at the two people on the floor under a booth table, Emma Swann pulled her hands in front of her a wave of lightening forming in between her fingers. Regina snapped into action, knowing she had no magic to fight the blonde with; she used the idea of distraction.

"MISS SWANN!" Regina yelled in her best Evil Queen voice, deep and booming through the diner causing the blonde to whirl on the spot, lightening crackling along her hands and arms. Throwing up those hands Emma sent a wave of energy towards Regina who ducked the corner of the counter just as the windows behind her burst outward into the street. Sliding back to the edge Regina peered around the corner of the counter. Ruby was trying her best to slide down the counter towards the door with Roland pressed almost underneath her without attracting attention. Regina nodded to the young woman who was wide eyed terrified that her friend could be the one causing such chaos in the diner. Taking a deep breath Regina gained her feet again, darting to the opposite side of the diner to the outside wall just under the edge of a booth, using it as minimal cover. She needed to drag Emma's attention towards her so that Ruby could get the young boy to safety.

"Emma Swann! Damn you, what are you doing?" Regina yelled at the blonde again directing her attention to the woman's uncovered position. Standing tall, Regina Mills took a step towards the deranged young woman in red. Hands in front of her; Regina tried to show that she was unarmed and without magic. Emma Swann stared at the woman, eyes rimmed in red, black lips, sallow skin, exactly the same as she looked in her dreams the night before. Maybe they weren't dreams maybe the woman had actually been there. Regina looked past Emma to Robin who was still on the ground covering Marion with his own body; she tried to convey the need for the man to slide both of them past Emma and out to the back hallway while she had the woman distracted.

"Regina, my darling." Emma's guttural voice sent shivers down Regina's spine, tightening in the pit of her stomach, fear rolling up her throat in desperation to escape. Biting the feelings of terror back down Regina held a hand out to the young woman.

"Yes dear, it is me. Why are you here?" Regina took another step towards the young woman, again glancing behind her towards Robin; a small shake of her head to the back hallway had Robin sliding across the floor pulling Marion with him. "Come here my darling, we need to get you home so you can rest, you don't look well." Red rimmed eyes stared at the woman approaching her as though she wanted to squash her like a thing under her heel. Flashing across her eyes green irises burst forth golden magic leaping to life in them.

"Regina, I'm scared, help me please. Please help me." Emma Swann stretched her hands towards Regina desperately reaching past the madness to the woman she thought could help her. Green irises flashed black again as the darkness retook the young woman. "Love is weakness you stupid girl!" Emma hissed; Regina had only a moment to get herself out of the line of fire when another wave of magic hit the booth behind where she stood, tearing it from the wall. As she slid behind a table in the middle of the room, flipping it over to make a makeshift barrier, Regina thought surely today she was going to meet her end.

"Emma, honey why are you doing this? You know I am only here to help you." Regina called from behind the table, peeking around the bar side in order to gauge where Robin and Marion had made it to in her attempt at distraction. Robin pulled Marion the last few feet around the corner, just as Emma spun back around to the spot the formerly were. An angered roar met Regina's ears; Emma realized that she had been tricked. Her potential target had disappeared from sight. In her delusional haze Emma took out her frustration on the table that Regina Mills was tucked behind; hurling wave after wave of magic, lightening and fire washing over the face of the laminate. Regina ducked her head to her knees praying for either the table to hold out or Emma to run out of energy. Time stood sentinel to the carnage when silence fell over the diner. Regina peeked up over top of the table, the diner was empty. Emma Swann was gone.

Ruby, still kneeling on the floor ducked her head around the corner to look towards Regina's hiding spot behind the scorched table. Regina was concentrating more on make the air enter and leave her lungs to notice the young brunette woman sliding across the tiles towards her. Regina jumped and pressed herself away from the hand that touched her shoulder. Ruby snatched her hand back surprised by the other woman's reaction.

"Regina; are you okay?" Ruby spoke softly in the eerie silence of the diner.

"Yes I'm fine. We need to help these people." Regina pushed the rising nausea down, putting the objective of helping the three people who were injured the worst. Ruby moved to where Granny leaned shaking her head to rid the cobwebs as she woke from the probable concussion after hitting her head against the wall. Leroy was the worse of the two still unconscious and bleeding from a cut across his eyebrow. The blood was slowing so that could wait but the man needed to get to a hospital. Regina stepped past the both of them, around the corner to where Robin still held Marion, though the woman was slowly regaining consciousness. Robin with tears in his eyes looked up to where Regina stood in the doorway.

"Thank you, Regina. That was a brave thing you did. I couldn't stop Emma, she just appeared from nowhere. She grabbed Roland out of Marion's lap and shoved him under the bar. Leroy jumped in to demand what she was doing and she hit him sending him into the bar stool. Granny came around the corner and Emma hit her with a wave of something, it looked like lightening." Robin helped Marion fully sit, rubbing her back in smooth circles as the woman tried to get her bearings.

"Roland? ROLAND! Where's my baby." Struggling against the arms that instinctively wrapped around her shoulders Marion fought to find Roland. Dropping to her knees right in front of the hysterical woman, Regina looked in her eyes.

"Marion, Roland is fine. He is currently being guarded and cared for by Ruby who will not let anything happen to him. You have been hurt and we need to get you to a doctor where you can be assessed for injuries." The mayor's voice cut through the darker woman's panic. Marion looked up into Regina's face and crumpled into tears. Regina rolled her eyes at the open display of hysteria, though on the inside she too was crying hysterically.

"REGINA! WE HAVE A PROBLEM HERE!" Ruby's terrified voice carried from the front of the diner.

Regina bolted from the floor rounding the corner, coming to a stop in the middle of the diner. Eyes widened at the sight outside in the middle of Main Street Storybrooke, Maine; where a dragon stood in all its glory jaws gaping, flames lapping from its open maw.

"What the hell! EVERYONE OUT THE BACK NOW." Regina turned and pushed Ruby with Roland behind the wall to the hallway heading for the back door of the diner. Turning back one time to look out the front door to the diner, the woman wondering not for the first time why she was always on the losing side of everything. Granny grabbed Roland up on her hip while Ruby half carried Marion, Robin grabbed Leroy around the waist throwing an arm over his shoulders. Regina; dress slacks, wrinkled shirt, creased jacket and tall three inch heels was all but running to get out the back door before the diner erupted into the inevitable fireball that the dragon would produce. The injured parties turned right, towards the hospital, Regina took a left and moved towards the front of the building. Trying to decide if she should call Charming to slay a dragon; he did have experience. Gulping deep breaths in to help with the hammering fear in her heart, Regina edged to the corner of the building pressed flat against the bricks. No noise came from the street where hopefully the dragon was still occupied with the building and not with wreaking havoc all over the town. Edging closer Regina brushed her shoulder with the edge of the brick and peered around the corner.

Emma Swann lay still in the middle of the road. Her body turned away from where Regina stood. Rumpelstiltskin stood over the downed woman, the dragon was nowhere to be seen; an illusion, a glimmer produced by the deranged young woman. Rumpel took something from his jacket pocket squatting down over the woman moving her hair to the side of her face roughly. Replacing whatever he used on Emma back into his jacket pocket, Rumpel then reached for the young woman's limp arms. Emma never moved, downed as though passed out or dared Regina think about it; quite possibly dead. Regina stepped from her hiding spot and marched across the black top as Rumpelstiltskin pulled a set of bracelets from Emma Swann's torn and bloodied wrists. He let the arms drop heavily against the black top, a thud against the still woman's breast.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Regina broke into a half stepped jog trying to get to the sleazy imp before he could hurt Emma further. Rumpelstiltskin looked up at the woman coming to Emma's side, snarling at her for the intrusion.

"I am collecting on a deal." Both he and Emma Swann disappeared from the middle of the road in a swirl of black. Regina Mills collapsed to her knees on the spot where Rumpel and Emma inhabited mere seconds before. The young woman had made a deal with the devil, now that devil was collecting; but what on earth could it be. The only thing visible from where Regina knelled over on all fours was a puddle of black tar. It was oily in appearance but sticky in consistency; a foul smell wafted up from where the puddle slowly dried on the warm pavement. A single strip marked into the disgusting stuff showing what payment Rumpel had wanted. Now the question was; why?

A/N: Please tell me what you are thinking?


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Ok so it took way too long to my liking for me to get this posted; my sincere apologies.**

**Warnings: Ok so this is my first warning for this story. I will NOT call it character death. I don't even know why I am prefacing it but I seem to see others in the genre prefacing any emotional situations. That is all.**

Regina Mills stood underneath the scalding hot water; pain radiating down from her scalp as she leaned heavily on her hands against the tiled shower wall in front of her. Muscles tensed down her back leading to the base of her spine where a small pool of the blistering liquid pooled just above her buttocks. Olive toned skin raw and red with the vicious scrubbing she had inflicted upon herself a few minutes earlier, the dark haired woman tried desperately to burn away the pain she was feeling inside. Finding the hot water was not doing the job, Regina blindly searched for the handles turning off the hot water completely. Mild shock set in as the cold water flew through the pipes hitting her overheated body full force. This switching of hot to cold was exactly what her insides felt like. The pain in her chest at seeing Emma Swann broken and half dead on the ground felt like the icy needles now blasting there way against her sensitive skin. The scrubbing she had bequeathed upon her skin turned it as raw as her nerves felt at seeing the dragon standing in the middle of the street, at seeing the clock tower disintegrate and race toward the ground where her son stood. Seeing Emma Swann stand with her heart in her hands reaching towards her, the fear at seeing utter love and devotion in the blonde woman's eyes. Fishing for the handles again Regina Mills turned the water off, standing with a foot cocked up on her toes behind her, palms still pressed against the tiles begging for all this emotion to end.

Feeling no better than when Robin Hood had appeared, picking her up off the street from where she had fell to her knees upon seeing Emma disappear with Gold, Regina pulled her biggest towel around her trembling frame. Toweling dry, she put her grey silk gown, allowing the soothing light weight of the fabric to cover her nerves in a cloudy softness of the threads. Lying down across her bed the raw, burning, freezing woman tried to close her eyes and quiet everything within her as well as around her. Exhaustion finally stole her as the evening air swirled with snow.

Emma Swann knew she was dying. Every cold inch of stone pressed hard against her broken body. Breath rattled through the cage her lungs lie in, absorbing just the bare amount of oxygen to keep her brain from dying. There was no pain, she had moved beyond that into a blissful dull nothingness. Her green eyes once so alive now the colors of dull pond scum stared into the darkness; from what she could discern she had been returned to the cavern. It was very fitting that what begin in earnest here on this dark floor would end here on this dark floor. The dragon that was slain to supposedly end the curse had started a new life for Emma. As she lay there feeling more of the cold seep in as her life slipped away, the heroics did not seem to matter as much. Her rerun through her life was not what it was cracked up to be. Crappy orphan kid to decent bail bondsperson, second hand mother to second rate daughter; it just never seemed that she was first in life. She was even second rate in Regina's love for her, Henry being her first priority and then her father Henry the senior, Daniel, Robin Hood, her horse Rocinante, her mother Cora then Emma Swann only to be followed in last by Snow White. What an atrocity to be second even in Regina's hate. Well then this disaster will be over; no one will mourn for long. Emma Swann attempted to roll to her back away from her side if for nothing more than a slight change in scenery. After a moment of thinking the thought through the urge to move fled the young blonde. Here would do just fine. If they ever found her body it would look as though she were only sleeping. Drawing in ever hallowing breaths Emma Swann slowly faded from the world till she knew no more.

Regina Mills came awake in a flurry of movement, entangling herself in a blanket that had not been there when she fell fitfully to sleep. The dream had been real, almost tangible. She stood at the top of the elevator shaft in the library. The floor shook with a deep bass fury of the roar from a towering black dragon. As the fury of the dragon died the screams of a baby took its place; the high pitched shrill grating, stark against the black rock. The baby's scream fell away a woman's scream took its place. Not just any woman Emma Swann. The hammering of Regina's heart physically hurt as she felt a nail was driven into her sternum with each beat. The elevator shaft had begun to crumble as the woman screamed drowning out her voice with the sound of cascading rocks. Then Regina stood in the cavern itself the blackness stealing away any light, except for the single flicker of a candle wavering from a distance. Walking towards the light the floor was littered with the bones of those long dead. Regina tripped over the skeletons falling to her hands and knees to crawl towards the light. A vibrating roar once again came from every direction as the dragon towered over her once again. The light wavered but never fell dark as Regina coward back behind a large column. The dragon disappeared, in its place the broken form of a human lying on the dark cold stone. The light was coming from the body. Crawling quickly once again Regina in her heart and mind knew who the body belonged to. Reaching a shaking hand, that trembled almost to violently to grasp at the clothing Regina Mills pulled the body of Emma Swann to her; cradling the dead woman to her chest, willing the warmth from her body to enter the still form.

"You stupid, stupid girl. How dare you do this to me and then have the nerve to leave me. I refuse to let you go Emma Swann so you had best start breathing, so I can strangle you to death myself." Tears flowed down Regina's face as the cold eyes stared back at her unseeing, unblinking. "You can't leave me before I get the courage to say I love you. Come back please." Regina begged as she rocked the corpse against her own shattered form.

Tripping down the stairs Regina Mills hurried to the kitchen where her cell phone was plugged into the outlet. Having learned years ago that if you wanted any inner peace in your life you left that demon thing where you couldn't hear it ring every ten minutes, the kitchen had become its customary place. Stumbling into the door at a frantic pace when the wood gave way to a warm light and enticing smells of food, Regina stood back falling away from the sight before her startled. Snow, David and Henry stood around in various states of preparing dinner; stock still staring at the disheveled woman. Clutching the silk gown to her throat Regina stood dazed. Henry broke the spell first dropping the knife and fruit he was cutting up onto the counter top, launching around the island to catch his trembling mother. Snow moved next to help lower the woman to the floor, clearly seeing the fear in the older woman's face.

"Regina, what happened? Are you okay? It is okay you are safe here. Everyone is safe." Snow cooed quietly at the woman not wanting to frighten her further.

"I know where she is." A whisper passed Regina's lips barely audible. "I saw her in a dream. She was de….we have to go get her. We can't wait a moment longer." Struggling back to her feet as Henry held her elbow, Snow clutching at her hands. Regina looked them in the eye with a firmer resolution. "We have to go get her; I can't lose that idiot again."

"Well you most certainly cannot go like this Regina, go change. For god sake wake up at least and them come back down we will eat and talk and you can tell us everything then. We will have to trust that Emma will be fine for another twenty minutes." Snow's firm voice helped to push Regina into a state of movement. Henry went with his adoptive mother helping her navigate back to her room.

The Dark One stood in his shop feverishly working over a beaker and flask. Bubbling contents of several varying shades of black, green and red simmered away on side burners. The blue of the flames from butane Bunsen burners reflecting off the twisting glass condensers, casting fire breathing shadows all around the shop. Sneering into the smallest vial, darkly scrapping the contents into the larger beaker, stirring vigorously with a glass rod to disperse the viscous fluid one thing became apparent; the black tar acquired from Ms. Swann was not yet pure enough. That would mean another round with the bracelets slowly pulling the poisoning darkness from the heart the woman now held in her chest. A most unpleasant delay for sure. Rumpelstiltskin threw aside the small vial with a mediocre shatter against the side entrance door. More liquid darkness would have to be harvested; reaching for the bracelets that he had pulled from Emma Swann's wrists in the street mere hours earlier, Rumple waved his dagger over the stones, green life leapt into the stones. He had no more objects that inhibited Cora's magic so his own would have to do to finish the process. Hopefully only one bracelet would be needed to finish the job he was loathe to part with both especially when the Evil Queen had watched him pull them from the dying woman's arms.

The darkness permeated every crevice of the cavern but in the low illumination Rumpel walked straight to where the body of Emma Swann lay. _Well _the dark imp thought to himself, _this woman can't even die right. Which is all well and good because I need her to stop screwing this up and finish this._ Kneeling down beside the ashen woman who barely drew breath within her, Rumple found the flutter of the heart, pressing his hand to the left breast of the Savior, a pulse of lightening coursing across the woman's paper thin skin, scorching through the veins, forcing the heart to pump faster, her lungs to draw breath deeper. Emma's eyes fluttered open, with a devastating groan of helplessness. This man was not even going to let her die on her own terms.

"Well Ms. Swann welcome back to the land of the living. I need you to finish what I started." Grabbing the weak blonde's arm Rumple once again clasp the bracelet to her cracked, broken wrist. The green stones glowed faintly, then more brilliantly as magic coursed back through veins that had long since decided to stop pumping. Color returned to skin, hair became less lank and stagnant. Emma Swann sat up and stretched from her deathly slumber. Eyeing Rumpelstiltskin she started to laugh out loud; voice broken, gravely from disuse.

"What do you want from me now Imp? I thought death was your end game for me? I died, yet here you bring me back. Can you not do anything yourself?" Emma Swann taunted the Dark One, feeling his biting sarcasm racing through her.

"Come dearie, we all know that you being the Savior and all I just couldn't let you die without complete tarnishing your name. No I need more from you, what you gave me before was not what I needed. We had a deal and you will fulfill then by all means you may resume your dying." Rumpel stood, walking away from the woman as she scooted across the stone floor towards a column to lean against. "This time you can't screw it up though you just need to sit here and play games with yourself. Make glimmers and butterflies, or bats if you like. Just something to draw out the dark magic coursing through your heart and that bracelet."

"What do you need with this stuff anyways?" Emma held her tiny blood caked wrist up in front of her face staring into the green depths of the stones, examining them for what they could be holding inside them. "You could pull this shit from your own body. Heaven knows you have enough darkness inside you to give a black hole light."

"You little worm, I should just break your neck now, but that would defeat my purpose. You, because of your innate goodness, provide a much better product when combining the dark magic you have been using with the black heart you are holding in your chest."

"Still didn't answer why you need this stuff." Emma pulled herself to her feet using the column behind her. Brushing off her jeans and t-shirt ineffectively from the grim she had been laying in for what felt like days, Emma took stock of how she felt at that moment. Alive that was all that mattered. "Thanks by the way I was having a really shitty day before you showed up. Now it's only partly shitty." Taking a tentative step forward to test if her legs were going to hold her up Emma walked towards where the Dark One stood, hands on her hips waiting for her answer.

"Ms. Swann that is entirely for me to know and you not to care about." A voice from above echoed through the cavern at the moment the man finished his admission. A woman's voice calling out through the darkness to one Emma Swann. "Well now dearie looks like you are in for a bit of company. Sounds like they may be bringing the cavalry to take out the monster. Too bad the monster is you. Have fun with that. Oh and I will be back to finally collect what is mine. Try to die the right way this time." A blink and Rumpelstiltskin was gone leaving Emma in the darkness contemplating her fate.

At the top of the elevator shaft Regina, Snow, David, Robin, Ruby and Henry stood. Ropes, anchors, harnesses, lanterns strewn around preparing for the decent into the cavern to find the daughter, mother, friend, colleague, and maybe even true love below.

"EMMA SWANN!" Regina yelled with ferocity that was twice the size of her lithe frame. The shaft rang with her voice, but no answering call returned from the depths. Regina Mills looked totally out of her element. Standing in the library floor with the Charmings and Henry by her side decked out in total black. Heavy boots on her feet muffled the normal staccato click of heels, cargo pants held a plethora of small utilities; a dagger, flash light, bandages. Regina stepped back from the entrance, straightening her over sweater; thick and heavy. It would suit her well for the coming challenge. The challenge of bringing Emma Swann home from the darkness she now lived in. Snow stepped up beside Regina, offering her Emma's own sword for her to strap to her thin waist line. Regina fumbled with the clasps her heart pounding in her chest, a wave of panic and dizziness threating to steal her courage.

"Regina," the calming voice of Snow White washed over her helping to squelch the rising bile momentarily. "You don't have to do this. We can find another way. David or I can go instead; or we can go with you. You don't have to do this alone; this is something we should do as a family." Snow took Regina's trembling hands in her own. "Look at me. Regina you are a part of our family. You always have been and you always will be. We have Henry because of you and no matter what happens today or any other day you are always welcome with us."

Regina Mills, the Evil Queen, slayer of men, women, and children, hardass Mayor of Storybrooke, wracked out into sobs and fell into Snow Whites arms. Sinking to the floor the younger woman held and rocked the older as she fell into a full on panic attack. Dam these feelings, dam this heart, dam Emma Swann for putting everyone in this position. If she hadn't come up with this stupid idea to give Regina her heart, literally, none of this would be happening. Regina tried to get angry, find the spark from deep inside her that would transform this panic into fire. If she had had her own heart she would reach deep down into the hurt and hate that had resided there for years. Now that she possessed Emma's heart there was not quite as much hurt and very little hate to hold onto. There was a sense of panic that she knew the blonde always felt when situations got beyond her control; but never having to have dealt with that kind of panic Regina was overwhelmed with it. Dam Emma Swann. If she could get the woman back from this situation she may just kill her; or kiss her, she wasn't quite sure yet.

"Thank you Snow. It might be best in numbers, though someone will have to stay top side in case we need help coming back up. There is no elevator car, it will just be a shaft, climbing gear, and someone should be here just in case we fail at this suicide attempt." Regina had regained her composure and was now rising from the floor, extending her hand to Snow. "I hope you're a dam good shot with that bow of yours. I know you don't want to hear this, but that is your daughter down there, are you certain you want to do this? If I fail then it will be up to you to do what must be done."

"That thing down there is _not_ my daughter. I'm going down there to make that thing give her back." Snow took off her light over jacket leaving on just her blouse and jeans with boots. So much like her daughter even though they were the same age now. "I want you to go down there and do what must be done to get her back." Snow grabbed at the quiver she swung around her shoulders and settled her bow string across her chest. Her brown eyes were desperately sad but she had conviction in her voice.

"How do you do it?" Regina asked softly facing the closed doors the empty elevator shaft. "how can you function like this? My heart is in my throat, and I feel like I'm going to panic at any moment yet here you are ready to go down there and face whatever may come at us with nothing but an angry attitude."

"It's called courage and you have it Regina, in buckets full. You have it because of all the crap you have put up with all your life. You may not have your heart, Regina, but you still have your courage and that's what keeps us going even when everything else is scaring the hell out of us." Snow turned to David, Robin, Henry and Ruby. "We are going down there to get Emma, does everyone remember the plan?"

A/N: Pause for dramatic effect. Please review, I don't know if this is worth doing or not unless you tell me.


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